The factory designed and manufactured many famous British Army weapons including the Lee–Enfield rifles which were standard equipment during both World Wars.

During the Napoleonic War, the increasing demand for large quantities of reliable weapons prompted the Board of Ordnance to look into building a new factory on a larger site.

[1] The factory was to be located at Enfield Lock on a marshy island bordered by the River Lea and the Lee Navigation.

Neighbouring farmland was acquired to become a restricted area to test ordnance from the Royal Gunpowder Mill.

The RSAF was originally all situated on the east side of the Lea, in the Sewardstone hamlet of Waltham Holy Cross parish, in Essex.

Local boundary changes initiated by SI 1993/1141 after it closed transferred the site entirely from Epping Forest District to the London Borough of Enfield.

[2] The factory was set up because of disappointment with the poor quality and high cost of the existing British weapons used in the Napoleonic Wars.

At this time in Britain, individual components were made mainly in the Gun Quarter, Birmingham by a number of independent manufacturers and then hand-assembled to produce muskets.

BAe then formed a joint venture with the property company Trafalgar House to redevelop the site.

[2] The majority of the site is now covered by a large housing development called Enfield Island Village.

The original machine shop frontage and the older part of the rear structure has been retained and was converted into workshops and retail units by the Enfield Enterprise Agency, making use of European Union (ERDF) funding.

[7] The Rifles public house originally known as the Royal Small Arms Tavern was compulsorily purchased by the government during the First World War.

Other pubs which had been built for local works remain standing including The Greyhound just west of the River Lea and The Plough in Sewardstone.

[11] There is still evidence of the factory in the immediate area, such as pill boxes, bridges and original buildings on the site such as the police house.