During the Second World War it was the location of a Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Risley.

After the war it became the site of the design offices and laboratories for the United Kingdom's nuclear weapons and nuclear power programmes.

[1] Universities Research Reactor was operational in Risley until 1991.

Today the bulk of the area forms the new town of Birchwood.

The institution opened as a Remand Centre in 1964, but is now a Category C prison for adult males.