The Royal Ordnance Factory near Euxton just south of Leyland was built in 1939 as a munitions explosive filling factory. It was next to the Preston to Manchester railway line and had an area over 900 acres or 1 1/4 square miles. Employment went up to the massive total of 28,000 during the war.
The site was formally called ROF Chorley, Filling Factory Number 1, but locally it was called Euxton. It appeared as a fenced off site with lots of mounds and concrete buildings, sort of mysterious. It had a railway station that was completely walled off until the mid-60's.
In the 1980's it was privatised into Royal Ordance PLC and became the company HQ. RO was later taken over by BAE SYSTEMS and made part of the Land Systems business and the HQ moved to Bristol.
The factory was run down over many years and in 2007 completely closed.