[1] Originally two farms, Wharhall and Fordrove, were purchased in 1936 by the British Government on which to build a shadow factory in preparation for any potential war with Nazi Germany.

[5] At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the factory was allocated to the Coventry-based Rover Company, who were assigned the task to build Bristol Hercules engines.

[2] Named No.2 Solihull,[5] after starting fitting out initial production was undertaken in Acocks Green, with machined parts supplied from Drakelow.

The oldest part of the Rover factory is the present day South Works, with its late 1930s art deco facade still with wartime camouflage.

[6] The engines were to be used in either planes or tanks, specifically Bristol Beaufighters and Handley Page Halifaxes, but mainly Short Stirlings.

Locally, the majority of engines were shipped to the Austin Motors Elmdon factory at Cofton Hackett, part of the Longbridge plant, which produced the Stirling.

The factory was extended with Eastworks in 1975 for the new Rover SD1, a bold and futuristic design which would replace the older P6 models.

However the plant was ravaged by the industrial strife that had crippled (and eventually bankrupted) the rest of BL, and the resulting quality problems meant the car never fulfilled its promise.

[7] The Rover SD1 assembly hall and paint shop were mothballed, and production of that car was moved to the former Morris plant in Cowley, Oxfordshire.

The original track started at the boiler house and ran over the numerous wartime air raid shelters.