Rolls-Royce and Bentley (eBook)

CHAPTER TWO

CREWE: FROM AERO-ENGINES TO CARS

In the mid-1930s Stanley Baldwin’s Conservative government, in answer to Germany’s re-armament and expansion, itself introduced a process of re-equipping Britain’s armed forces. This involved the establishment of a number of ‘shadow factories’ which, it was planned, would produce components for the aero industry and, in particular, the Bristol air-cooled engine. The scheme, however, had far wider implications as the manufacturing programme was extended to include the supply of complete airframes and engines to the designs of the aircraft industry’s leading companies, Rolls-Royce included.

Britain’s aircraft industry was sadly lacking in both its financial resources and personnel numbers. Comprising only some 35,000 people, nearly 20 per cent of whom were employed by Rolls-Royce, there was little room in which to manoeuvre and supply the huge increase in demand that was suddenly required.

It was to the motor industry that the government looked to direct the shadow factory operations and, in the spring of 1936, approaches by the Air Ministry were made to Austin, Daimler, Rover, Standard and Rootes. In each case car-makers were to act as manufacturing agents and receive payment on an agreed basis for the work carried out, as well as having a measure of input as to each factory’s location. The motor industry was not expected to support factory building costs and the Air Ministry therefore negotiated to provide the required amount of capital, plus an annual management fee of £50,000, which was in addition to a payment of £75 for each engine completed.

Initially the Air Ministry’s scheme received a cool reception from the makers of some of Britain’s popular cars and it was only when Rootes gave it their full backing that other manufacturers responded with markedly warmer approval. Planning of the factories progressed at an unprecedented rate and work began on the construction of the first shadow factory at Longbridge, the site of the Austin works near Birmingham, in May 1936.

Even working at full capacity it quickly became apparent that the first wave of shadow factories, each of which was intended to be an image of the original plant, was not going to be sufficient to meet the demands of war, especially with the deepening international crisis. Planning of a second series of shadow factories was put into operation, which included an approach to Rolls-Royce to build complete aero-engines to its own design. Generally, shadow factories were built in the locality of their original but this was not always possible, hence Rover’s first ‘shadow’ was established at Acocks Green, to the south-east of Birmingham, and their second facility at Solihull. The Shadow of Derby was therefore negotiated not within its proximity but at Crewe, on land known as Merrill’s Farm on the south-west margins of the town.

From the outset of the shadow factory scheme, of which Rolls-Royce was a participant, the company was indisposed towards allowing the production of its engines to be undertaken by any other manufacturer. Instead, discussions were conducted with the government to extend Nightingale Road’s production area by some 311,540 square ft, thus avoiding the need, as it was then perceived, to construct a purpose-built shadow. The casualty was the chassis division but more of that later in the chapter. Although Rolls-Royce had calculated its production capacity correctly, on information supplied to the company, what was underestimated was the huge demand for the firm’s aero-engines. By 1937 it was clearly evident that not even the restructured Derby factory was going to have sufficient capacity to fulfil its orders.

There was, therefore, no alternative but for Rolls-Royce to agree to the building of a shadow of Derby. In fact two were built, one at Crewe and another, later, in 1939, at Hillington, near Glasgow. Again Rolls-Royce argued the dangers of allowing external motor manufacturers to build its engines, the outcome being that they successfully secured an agreement whereby the Air Ministry paid for the factory’s construction but it would be operated wholly by the company.

There were several reasons for choosing Merrill’s Farm as the factory site, the most important being that Crewe was an ideal communication centre with excellent railway access. Raw materials could be delivered easily from anywhere in Britain and the finished product could be dispatched just as efficiently. The town’s railway engineering industry also meant that skilled labour was readily available and, as for Merrill’s Farm itself, it had been earmarked for future development.

Some confusion has arisen as to the use of the land at Merrill’s Farm before it was developed. The popular belief is that it was the site of a borough refuse tip, which is erroneous. There was in fact a refuse destructor unit on adjacent land, which still remains to this day, but until Merrill’s Farm was taken over for building the shadow factory it was still being farmed for arable purposes and potatoes in particular. The farm was indeed borough property, having been purchased from the previous owner some years before. A plan had once existed to build an aerodrome on the land; Sir Alan Cobham was commissioned to advise on the site but the project was ultimately abandoned. A butter-producing factory had also been proposed but in the event the location was found to be unfavourable, due, no doubt, to the close proximity of the waste destructor, and premises were found elsewhere in Crewe.

As a town Crewe had been campaigning to attract new businesses to that part of Cheshire for some time and as early as 1931 Crewe Industrial Development Council had been formed purely for this purpose. The town and its environs were experiencing serious unemployment which had given rise to a pool of available experienced and skilled labour and everything was being done to alleviate this problem. With such willingness on behalf of the Borough Council to provide and find employment, there was no objection to the decision, which was reached in 1937 between the government and Rolls-Royce, to locate the factory within its confines. Indeed, Crewe Borough Council guaranteed favourable terms for the availability of new housing for Rolls-Royce workers should the factory be built and ultimately, of the 2,000 homes built for company employees, 250 were constructed by the local authority with the remainder being provided by private enterprise.

Work commenced to level the Merrill’s Farm site on 6 July 1938 and within days rather than weeks the main shop was being erected. This picture, taken on 17 January 1939, shows the engine test beds under construction. The weather throughout the building period was dreadful and as can be seen the site is waterlogged. (Courtesy: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited)

Assembling Merlin aero-engines. During training sessions it was compulsory to strip and rebuild an engine against the clock and not have a single component left over at the end of the exercise. (Courtesy: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited)

The agreement between the Air Ministry and Rolls-Royce was finalized in April 1938. A month later the acquisition of Merrill’s Farm was complete, the land having been purchased for the sum of £99 8s per acre. Minute No. 2,051 in the Borough’s Council Meeting Records notes the transaction on 27 May but there was, however, absolute silence over the project until the Air Ministry made an announcement to the effect on the 11 June.

The design and layout of the factory was carried out at breakneck speed, although there were complications when the Air Ministry decided, after all the building contracts had been settled, to drastically alter the original specifications to provide a much increased manufacturing output.

The architecture of the Crewe factory conformed to a formula to which similar shadow factories were constructed. In the majority of cases each factory included a two-storey office block, usually featuring metal window frames and concrete lintels, running the entire width of the establishment, itself under a single roof, and employing a conventional steel shed design with either ‘A’ frame or saw-tooth roofing. In effect, the design was much in the manner of some of the British car factories built during the Edwardian era and those designed in America by Albert Khan during the early to mid-1930s. Not in any respect could the design of the shadow factories be considered as aesthetic but today they are thought to be of both historic and architectural interest.

Despite the initial delays while the building contracts were being altered, work on clearing and levelling the fifty-nine acres began on 4 July 1938 when the first sod of earth was cut. Such was the pressure to get the building constructed and engine production under way that the first steel structures were being erected by the end of the month. The weather during the early construction period was appalling but even the heavy rain that turned the site into a quagmire did not slow the speed at which building progressed. As a matter of interest, the entire building programme was painstakingly photographed and, twice every day, Lewis Jones, a professional photographer in Crewe, recorded the progress. Incredibly, much important photographic material was disposed of during the 1960s and it is a miracle that at least some of it was salvaged by Rolls-Royce personnel who were aware of its historical significance.

Also, at the end of the month, the Co-Operative Wholesale Society (CWS) milk depot, now an undertaker’s, at Cumberland Bridge, Middlewich...