| abstract | - Originally two farms, Wharhall and Fordrove Farms, they were purchased in 1936 by the British Government on which to build a shadow factory in preparation for any potential war with Nazi-Germany. Construction was started almost immediately, with the factory complete as a shell and placed in mothballs in late 1938. At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the factory was allocated to the Coventry-based Rover Company, who were assigned the task to build Bristol Hercules engines. After starting fitting out, initial production was undertaken in Acocks Green. Rover took possession of the fitted-out factory in January 1940, and produced the first Rover-built Hercules engine in October 1940. The factory became a guarded and fortified location, and air raid shelters are still in the grounds of the plant. The oldest part of the Rover factory is the present day South Works with its late 1930s art deco facade still with wartime camouflage. The engines were to be used in either planes or tanks, specifically Bristol Beaufighters and Handley Page Halifaxes, but mainly Short Stirlings. Locally, the majority of engines were shipped to the Austin Motors Elmdon factory at Cofton Hackett, part of the Longbridge plant, which produced the Stirling.
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