Then and now: How old shell store is being transformed

THEN: The shell store before re-building work began

NOW: The transformation is under way. Picture: Belinda Olsen

WORK to redevelop the old shell store at Rotherwas, Hereford, is forging ahead.

The iconic buildings have been stripped bare, with only the distinctive steel superstructure remaining.

Builders moved in to begin transforming the site just four months ago.

Funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Herefordshire Council and a loan from the Marches Local Enterprise Project, the £7.3 million redevelopment aims to turn the local landmark into a "flagship business incubation and innovation centre."

Due for completion in spring 2020, the development will provide more than 2,000 square metres of employment space, with room for new and growing enterprises to set up and expand alongside facilities for development and innovation.

An old photo of a munitions worker at the shell store

It will also create the opportunity for Hereford's university, NMiTE, to interact with businesses.

The shell store development will provide employment space for up to 25 businesses, which Herefordshire Council said will drive economic growth through the generation of about 128 new jobs by 2023, rising to more than 450 by 2031.

The Rotherwas National Filling Factory (NFF No14, Hereford) was built in haste in 1916, halfway through the First World War.

Records suggest that about 8,000 munitionettes (female munitions workers) worked at Rotherwas during the First World War, drawn from all over the UK, and making up to 95,000 shells a week.

An artist's impression of how the interior of the shell store will look when it is finished and occupied

For many, the move to Hereford was hugely liberating. The wage packet (albeit less than half as generous as their male counterparts) and the need to live away from home gave them a freedom which had not been dreamed of before the war.

Employees were billeted in Hereford, Ross-on-Wye, Leominster and the surrounding villages, and some took three hours just to travel to and from work, either side of a 10-12 hour shift.

Unlike many other filling factories, Rotherwas was kept open after the First World War and was refurbished in secret ahead of the Second World War – this time with the title of Royal Ordnance Factory No 4, Hereford (ROF No4).

Employees were again predominantly female – estimates vary widely between 3,500 and 10,000 – but this time conscription meant there was much more of a social mix of women, and living conditions were far better, including provision of crèches and travel allowances.

Early in the morning of July 27, 1942, a lone German bomber dropped its bomb load of several 250lb bombs after circling the site.

The first bomb landed on Holme Lacy Road, killing at least 22 people and injuring 24. The second hit a transit shed and exploded, while the third was deflected into Moorlands Villas where five family members were killed.

It was the home of the Munitions Police Superintendent Ernest Hursey and his wife, Vera. Ken Hursey, their teenage son, was the only survivor.