The Secret War Factory: Cowbridge Confidential

By Charles Exton 

Authorhouse, 158 pages, Paperback. MAL.949

This slim volume is about, as the author describes, extraordinary people in extraordinary times. It tells the story of how Cowbridge House, the residence at that time, of a member of the Royal Household, Major Sir Philip Hunloke G.C.V.O, was bought and converted into a wartime factory. This house was selected because it was quite secluded, being a few miles outside Malmesbury, and had the space and size to convert to a factory. 

The author worked at the factory and therefore had good insight into the methods of working and production. He begins by giving us his story and how he came to be working at Cowbridge. He then gives us an overview of life in the 1930s and during the war before going on to describe the various departments in the factory itself. 

The work may have taken place in a lovely house with beautiful grounds, but the fact was that most of the workers were sent to work there whether they liked it or not. Most of them it appears did not. Women made up the majority of the workforce, and they were sent to Malmesbury by the Labour Exchange from all over the country. Billets were found for them, staying wherever they were put and bused into and from work each day. The hours worked were bitterly complained of as too long, being from 8am to 8pm and non-negotiable.  

However, the work carried out at Cowbridge was vitally important to the war effort and also top secret. All employees had to sign the Official Secrets Act and so were not able to talk about the work they were doing to anyone, not even family. This did not help the workers to integrate with the locals. 

The influx of all these extra people had quite an effect on the local populations of the towns and villages. A lot of the workers had come from large towns and cities, so village life came to them as a bit of a shock with many complaining of nothing to do. Villagers, however, complained that the social facilities such as the cinema meant long queues and lack of access, plus the pubs frequently ran out of beer. 

I recommend reading this slim book as it is full of first-hand information and insight into life and work during those dark and difficult years. It does not present it in a shining light but in a realistic light which informs us of the harsh realities of life during the war. 

Charles Exton’s The Secret Factory is available to view at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre or borrow via your local Wiltshire library, reference MAL.949 

Eileen Sutherland, Community History Advisor