RAF Fauld explosion

RAF Fauld stands in Staffordshire’s countryside, a quiet place where gypsum mines once held millions of rounds of ammunition. The depot was carved from old mine tunnels and filled with up to 500 million small-arms cartridges alongside thousands of tonnes of high explosive bombs. On 27 November 1944 at 11:11 am two blasts tore through the tunnels, releasing the force of 3,500 tonnes of bombs and gouging a crater 100 feet deep and 1,007 feet wide. The explosion ranks among the largest non-nuclear blasts ever recorded and destroyed everything within three-quarters of a mile. Upper Castle Hayes Farm vanished, the Peter Ford lime works collapsed into floodwater, and nearby villages lost cottages under falling debris. Official figures list 90 killed, missing or injured, though the final toll is thought to be about 70, including Italian prisoners of war and farm workers. A memorial stone now stands at the crater bearing 70 names, 18 of them still missing. Today the site is a fenced woodland where over 150 tree species grow above unexploded ordnance. A tourist trail leads from the Cock Inn in Hanbury to the crater’s rim, and a second memorial marks the 70th anniversary. David Bomberg painted the depot while working as a war artist, leaving a visual record of the place before it closed in 1966.