The former Royal Ordnance Depot, Weedon

Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 6 Jul 2010

The Grand Junction Canal reached Weedon in 1796, and the existence of that transport link must have been a major consideration when the Royal Ordnance Depot was sited here in 1803. At a time when the country lived in fear of invasion by Napoleon, south-west Northamptonshire also had the attraction of being remote from any coast-line - whether south, east, or west. The photo shows what might be considered the heart of the site, with eight store-houses flanking a canal spur which formerly connected to the Grand Junction Canal. For much of their history these served as a major storage and distribution centre for small arms. Magazines were built further west (again accessible by canal), also barrack accommodation and stables. Further north-east there were three particularly grand residences, known jointly as the Pavilion, which initially served to accommodate the civilian governor and senior officials. A well-established tradition has it that the Pavilion was intended as a place of refuge for the monarch - George III - in the event of invasion (hence their grand style and scale). This tradition has not gone unchallenged: http://www.weedonbec-village.co.uk/weedon-depot.html However, I have been contacted in this regard by Colonel John Royle MBE, Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Northamptonshire. He knew the Pavilion when it functioned as an officers' mess in 1958, and accepts the account of a royal connection as fact. So - it should be said - did Prof. Pevsner, writing in the Northamptonshire volume of 'The Buildings of England'. The Weedon site was in continuous use by the Army for more than 160 years. The Royal Army Ordnance Corps finally left in 1965, and the site passed into commercial ownership in the 1980s. Here on Geograph, Chris has supplied more history, along with glimpses of the stables at the Army School of Equitation as they were in 1974: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4057794 Elsewhere, Nick Catford's account on Subterranea Britannica is well worth a look, both for text and photographs (recent and historic). http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/w/weedon/index.shtml

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