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Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Bridgwater was a factory between the villages of Puriton and Woolavington in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England that produced for . It was slightly above sea level, between the on Ordnance Survey maps. BAE Systems closed it when decommissioning was completed in July 2008.
On 29 June 1951, an explosion killed six men. No cause was ever identified.
It was also known as " ROF 37", a name that was reflected in its sports and social association, the " 37 Club", just outside the perimeter fence.
Both the waterways are now an integral part of the drainage system of the Somerset Levels.
The factory was essentially self-supporting other than for raw materials. It generated high-pressure steam for heating and production processes using its own coal-fired power station; it could also produce electricity using a steam turbine. During World War II before the National Grid was fully developed, it was connected to two independent power stations, Portishead (now demolished) and Shepton Mallet.
Between 1940 and 1941, housing for workers was built as "pre-fabs" in the adjacent village of Woolavington. for single workers were built at nearby Dunball, by the King's Sedgemoor Drain.
The site was guarded until shortly after privatisation by the MoD Police, which had its barracks and canteen opposite the main gates. These have long since been demolished. Three brick MoD Police houses are still in use on the Woolavington Road, but they are no longer occupied by the police.
The factory was connected to the Great Western Railway (GWR) by a private, standard-gauge branch line and sidings with its own locomotive. This was used both for supplies, such as acid in tanker wagons from ICI and coal for the power station, and for distribution of the finished product.
A bridge was built in the early 1970s to carry the line over the M5 motorway, just north of junction 23, when the M5 was extended southwards from the M50. The line became disused after the privatisation of the ROFs and the rail tracks has been lifted. The British Rail sidings were known as Huntspill (Puriton).Baker, S.K. (1980). Rail Atlas of Britain, 3rd Edition. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Co
Like all ROFs at the time, the factory was a production factory: formulation of explosives, and munitions was carried out at separate government-owned research and development establishments such as the Research Department, initially at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich and then Fort Halstead; and at PERME Waltham Abbey, later transferred to RARDE Fort Halstead. After privatisation Royal Ordnance PLC took over some of this capability, other parts being closed or becoming part of QinetiQ.
In February 2024, Tata Group confirmed it would invest £4 billion to create a battery factory, built by Agratas, on the Gravity site. Battery production is set to begin in 2026, with the creation of around 4,000 jobs.
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