Everything about The Royal Small Arms Factory totally explained
The
Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF), Enfield, was a
UK government-owned
rifle factory in
Enfield, now part of north
London, which produced
British military rifles,
muskets and
swords from 1816. It closed in 1988, but some of its work was transferred to other sites.
History
Foundation
The factory was located at
Enfield Lock on a
marshy island bordered by the
River Lea and the
River Lee Navigation. It was built on the instructions of the
Board of Ordnance near the
end of the
Napoleonic War. The land was acquired in 1812 and the factory completed by 1816. The site had the advantages of water-power to drive the machinery and the River Lee Navigation for the transportation of raw materials and finished weapons. The RSAF was originally all situated on the east side of the Lea, in the county of
Essex in
Waltham Abbey parish,
Sewardstone hamlet. The course of the river was diverted during the life of the factory, and
part of the site then fell in Enfield parish. 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.
The original ambitious plans by Captain
John By included three mills. Later, the engineer
John Rennie recommended the construction of a navigable
leat. The leat was made, although only one mill with two
waterwheels was completed.
In 1816 the
barrel branch was transferred from
Lewisham; and by 1818 the
lock and finishing branches had been moved to the site, enabling the closure of the Lewisham factory. A
sword-making department was set up in 1823.
The Crimean War
The factory fought off the threat of closure in 1831; and remained quite modest in size until the
Crimean War of 1853/1856, which resulted in vastly increased production.
By 1856 a
machine shop was built on
American mass-production lines, using American machinery powered by
steam engines. The shop was based on a design by John Anderson designed the shop and built by the
Royal Engineers. The workforce increased to 1000, and by 1860 an average of 1,744 rifles were produced per week.
In 1866 another major expansion took place, when the watermill gave way to steampower. The total number of steam engines grew to sixteen; and by 1887 there were 2,400 employees.
Production of the new model rifle designed by
James Paris Lee begun in 1889. The famous
Lee Enfield rifle was designed in 1895.
20th century
The factory expanded again in
World War I; and in
World War II. Two other
Royal Ordnance Factories were set up in World War II to manufacture rifles designed at RSAF Enfield, and to greatly increase its capacity:
ROF Fazakerley and
ROF Maltby. Both of these have long been closed.
Decline set in after World War II; and in 1963 half the site was closed.
The Royal Small Arms Factory was
privatised in 1984 along with a number of
Royal Ordnance Factories to become part of
Royal Ordnance Plc; and was later bought by
British Aerospace (BAe). They closed the site in 1988. After closure this collection was moved to
ROF Nottingham; which has since closed. The collection is now held at the
Royal Armouries Museum,
Leeds.
Closure and reuse of the site
Local government boundary changes meant that the majority of the site was now within the
London Borough of Enfield. The necessary outline planning permissions were obtained for site redevelopment; making closure of the site attractive to its new owners.
Closure was announced on
12 August 1987, shortly after privatisation, and the site closed in 1988; the machinery was
auctioned off in November 1988. BAe then formed a
joint venture with the property company
Trafalgar House to redevelop the site.
[
The majority of the site is now covered by a large housing development. 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. The new development is called Enfield Island Village.
A small museum can be viewed by appointment only.]
Further Information
Get more info on 'Royal Small Arms Factory'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://royal_small_arms_factory.totallyexplained.com">Royal Small Arms Factory Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
