The History of Ruddington Depot
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Wartime Operations
The completed site
The Ruddington Ordnance and Supply Depot was, as its title suggests, divided into two separate parts. The Ordnance section consisted of the filling factory, which was officially known as R.O.F. (Royal Ordnance Factory) Ruddington, together with several magazines or ammunition bunkers. This section was the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence and was much larger than the Supply Section which belonged to the Ministry of Supply. The Ministry of Supply was a new government department created in 1939, charged with the responsibility of securing and storing supplies of everything needed to fight a war, except weapons and ammunition. They remained the province of the Ministry of Defence.
The dual site in Ruddington was surrounded by a high security fence, which ran right round the perimeter. Internally the two sections were separated by a wire fence, with a manned security gate so that authorised persons could pass from one side to the other. A branch line had been laid down from the Great Central Railway, close to Ruddington Station, into the centre of the Depot. There was a spur to a passenger platform and a whole network of sidings and loading platforms.
The main entrance was on Loughborough Road and there were three other manned gates, one on Asher Lane, one on the Green and one on the perimeter road on the southern boundary. To a large extent the Depot was self-sufficient, with two underground reservoirs, a sewerage plant, several large generators, a heating plant and a telephone exchange. There was also a bakery, a laundry, a surgery, two canteens and even a mortuary on site.
The Story > Chapter 3 > Section 3.01