Fauld

Overview

Fauld began as an ordinary Staffordshire gypsum mine, its horizontal drift workings feeding a plaster works at the tunnel mouth — until the RAF requisitioned the disused mine in 1937 to store bombs, and on 27 November 1944 it became the site of the largest explosion in British history.

History

Gypsum had been worked at Fauld, on the edge of the Needwood Forest escarpment near Hanbury, since the 19th century, with two firms, J. C. Staton & Co. and Peter Ford & Sons, driving horizontal drift mines into the Stonepit Hills; Ford's built a plaster works at the mouth of their own mine to process the gypsum on site. In 1937, with the mine disused, the Royal Air Force requisitioned the workings, some 90 feet below the hillside, to store bombs and ammunition as No. 21 Maintenance Unit. On 27 November 1944 an accident during ordnance handling triggered the largest explosion in British history, destroying the neighbouring plaster works and killing at least 70 people (see Disasters, below). RAF Fauld continued to operate as an ammunition depot after the disaster, remaining in use until 1966, and was then used by the United States Army to store ammunition from 1967 to 1973 following France's withdrawal from NATO's integrated command structure. The site was finally closed and fenced off by 1979.

Geology

Gypsum occurs here within Triassic Mercia Mudstone, deposited as evaporite beds when shallow seas periodically dried out across the region; the same geology gave the district a long tradition of plaster manufacture, of which Fauld's mine and its neighbouring plaster works were part.

Workings

Gypsum was worked by horizontal drift mining into the Stonepit Hills escarpment; once requisitioned by the RAF, the same tunnels were adapted to store ordnance some 90 feet underground, eventually reaching a stated capacity of up to 40,000 tonnes of bombs and ammunition.

Closure

The 1944 explosion destroyed the depot's surface installations and the neighbouring plaster works, though the RAF continued using the site until 1966; the US Army then used it from 1967 to 1973, before the site was finally closed and fenced off by 1979.

What remains

Significant quantities of unexploded ordnance are believed to remain buried at the site, and the UK government has judged their removal too costly to be feasible; the crater and surrounding area are now wooded and support over 150 recorded species, with a public trail leading to the crater from the Cock Inn at Hanbury.

Hanbury Crater survives as one of the largest man-made craters in Britain; memorial stones, including one donated by Italy in 1990 in memory of the Italian prisoners of war killed, mark the site.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Disasters & major incidents

• RAF Fauld explosion, 1944
  27 November 1944 · Explosion · 70 fatalities
  An accident during routine ordnance handling at the RAF's underground ammunition depot, built into a disused Staffordshire gypsum mine, detonated thousands of tonnes of stored explosives — the largest explosion in British history, killing at least 70 people and leaving a crater over 1,000 feet across.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Gypsum was worked at Fauld by two firms, J. C. Staton & Co. and Peter Ford & Sons, driving horizontal drift mines into the Stonepit Hills, with Ford's building a plaster works at their mine's mouth. ¹
• The Royal Air Force requisitioned the disused mine in 1937 to store ammunition some 90 feet underground as No. 21 Maintenance Unit, eventually reaching a stated capacity of up to 40,000 tonnes. ²

Sources

1. (secondary) Gypsum Mine, Fauld — Staffordshire Past Track
2. (secondary) RAF Fauld explosion — Wikipedia

Record created: 24 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 August 2026