THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN
THE WEST YORKSHIRE HER
West Yorkshire
Archaeology Advisory Service
Registry of Deeds,
Newstead Road,
Wakefield
WF1 2DE
West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service
(Part of West Yorkshire Joint Services)
How to contact us:
The West Yorkshire Historic Environment Record (HER) is a publicly
 Email: [email protected]
accessible record of the region’s archaeology and built heritage. Our
 Telephone: 01924 306797
records include an increasing number of First World War sites, however
 Website: archaeology.wyjs.org.uk
we are hoping that during this centenary period (2014-2018) many
 Facebook: /WestYorkshireHER
more will come to light. This leaflet has been created to provide some
 Heritage Gateway: heritagegateway.org.uk
basic information
regarding some of our region’s more substantial
WW1 sites. If you know of any others, however, and would like to share
PRN 5715: HEADLEY HALL
AIRFIELD
any information please
contact the HER via [email protected], or
contribute online to the Home Front Legacy project (which is highlighted
on the back of this leaflet).
NB: The reference numbers used to prefix the site names on this leaflet
are the HER reference number (i.e. PRN XXXX). If you would like to find
out more about any particular site featured please contact the HER
directly, or search our records on the Heritage Gateway website.
PRN 4981: BARNBOW MUNITIONS FACTORY
Top: cropmarks of two former hangars of the WW1
Bramham Moor Airfield (© English Heritage, 1991)
Bottom: the surviving grade II listed hangar
The airfield opened in Spring 1916 as the
Royal Flying Corps Landing Ground Bramham
Moor. ‘B’ Flight of 33 squadron were stationed
there, and their main task was to protect the
nearby cities (Leeds and Sheffield) from aerial
attack by Zeppelins, although later it was also
used as a training depot.
The site was in use for the rest of the First
World War, but was closed down in late 1919.
Today, only one of the air hangars remains, as
a listed building, among the barns of Headley
Hall Farm (seen far right in the aerial photo
above).
Aerial photographs (see above) still show the
outline of the other hangars as negative
cropmarks. There were never any concrete
runaways laid, so the planes had to land on the
grass field (which apparently was not very well
levelled!).
Barnbow was a First World War munitions factory situated near Leeds, built
during 1915, and officially known as National Filling Factory No. 1. In 1916 the
factory suffered the worst tragedy in the history of the city (in terms of fatalities),
when a massive explosion killed 35 of the women who worked there. The
original site apparently covered some 200-300 acres, of which perhaps 60% still
survives as earthworks.
Barnbow was Britain's top shell factory between 1914 and 1918, and by the end
of the war, a total of 566,000 tons of ammunition had been shipped overseas.
During the height of work production around 93% of Barnbow’s workforce were
female. The factory’s main activities included the production of cartridges, quick
firing ammunition, primers, smoke bags and exploders. After the Armistice in
1918 the site was used as storage depot for surplus war stores, before parts of
it were demolished.
Many of the original buildings at Barnbow were constructed of wood, but some
were brick built and it is these that still survive on site (although in a ruinous
state), along with some sections of the internal railway which served the many
sections of the complex.
2
Left: A memorial stone commemorating the women who were killed during the 1916 explosion at Barnbow.
Right: Some of the women working in the munitions factory
COUNTRY HOUSES TURNED
INTO MILITARY HOSPITALS:
Country houses, across the whole of the UK, were used by
the government for various purposes during the war, and
the ones in West Yorkshire were no exception. Temple
Newsam House (PRN 12550), Lotherton Hall (PRN 3990),
and Harewood House (PRN 6896) were all utilised as
military hospitals, while Shelf Hall, near Bradford (PRN
7907 - which is now demolished) was used as a prisoner of
war camp for captured Germans.
Lotherton Hall: The Victorian house served as a military hospital from
November 1914 to 1918.
WAR MEMORIALS:
Huddersfield University WW1 memorial painting - unveiled
during 1924.
There are hundreds of war memorials across the
five districts of West Yorkshire which remember
and commemorate the local people who served
during the First World War, and not all are stone
monuments and crosses. For example, the
memorial located in the grade II listed Ramsden
Building at Huddersfield University (PRN 8921)
includes a heavily symbolic mural painted a few
years after the end of the war by the Technical
College art lecturer at the time - a John Richardson Gauld.
Are you inspired to learn more about Home Front WW1 heritage? Why not take part in this project?
The Council for British Archaeology is working with English Heritage and partners across the UK to help local
communities identify and map the remains of the First World War in Britain. Local people can help to document
and preserve our stories, and vulnerable remains, for future generations.
Running from 2014-2018, the Home Front Legacy project is supporting community groups researching local
places associated with the Great War with an online toolkit and guidance for recording the remains of surviving
sites, structures and buildings around Britain.
This knowledge is presented on a UK-wide map of sites and projects, helping us to better understand the legacy
of the War on our landscape and consciousness. The data is also submitted to the UK’s national and local
archaeological records (including West Yorkshire HER) to inform planning decisions and help safeguard First
World War remains for generations to come.
For more information visit: http://www.homefrontlegacy.org.uk
The Physical Legacy of the First World War and its Home Front, 1914-18 is a UK partnership project, coordinated
by the Council for British Archaeology, with funding from English Heritage, Historic Scotland and Cadw.