Cardington, Bedfordshire
Encyclopedia
Cardington is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford
in Bedfordshire
, England
Part of the ancient hundred of Wixamtree
, the settlement is best known in connection with the Cardington airship works founded by Short Brothers
during World War I
, which later became an RAF training station. However most of the former RAF station is actually in the parish of Eastcotts
, as is the settlement of Shortstown
, which was originally built by Short Brothers for its workers. The old village of Cardington is located to the north east of Shortstown and the RAF station, and houses most of the population of the parish, which was 270 in 2005, making it one of the least populated parishes in Bedfordshire.
. Bedford Town F.C.
compete at The New Eyrie ground, and play in the Southern Football League Premier Division. Bedford F.C. use the McMullen Park ground, and play in the Spartan South Midlands Football League
Division One. Both of the football grounds are located next to each other on Meadow Lane in Cardington.
Cardington Artificial Slalom Course
is an artificial whitewater
canoe slalom course located on the edge of Cardington next to Priory Country Park
. The course was the first if its kind to be built in the UK, and hosts national canoe slalom competitions and cups. It is also used as a main training area for the Viking Kayak Club
.
Cardington became one of the major British
sites involved in the development of airship
s when Short Brothers bought land there to build airships for the Admiralty
. They constructed a 700 feet (213.4 m) airship shed (the No. 1 Shed) in 1915 to enable them to build two rigid airships, the R-31 and the R-32. Some 800 people worked there in 1917, most of them travelled daily from Bedford
. Shorts also built a housing estate, opposite the site, which they named Shortstown.
The airships site was nationalised
in April 1919, becoming known as the Royal Airship Works.
In preparation for the R101
project the No 1 shed was extended between October 1924 and March 1926; its roof was raised by 35 feet and its length increased to 812 feet. The No. 2 shed (Southern shed), which had originally been located at RNAS Pulham
, Norfolk
, was dismantled in 1928 and re-erected at Cardington.
After the crash of the R101, in October 1930, all work stopped in Britain on airships. Cardington then became a storage station.
In 1936/1937 Cardington started building barrage balloon
s; and it became the No 1 RAF
Balloon Training Unit.
For both airships and barrage balloons, Cardington manufactured its own hydrogen
, in the Gas Factory, using the steam reforming
process. In 1948 the Gas Factory became 279 MU (Maintenance Unit), RAF Cardington; and then, in 1955, 217 MU. 217 MU, RAF Cardington, produced all the gases used by the Royal Air Force until its closure in April 2000; including gas cylinder
filling and maintenance.
The two airship sheds ceased being part of the RAF Cardington site in the late 1940s and they were put to other uses. The fence was moved, so they were outside the main RAF Cardington site.
From 1970, No. 2 shed was used by the Fire Research Station for large-scale fire tests in sheltered conditions which could not be carried out at their site in Borehamwood, Herts. Such tests included work on sprinklers in high-rack storage, department stores and other locations, gas explosions (following the Ronan Point disaster of 1969), and reconstructions of notable fires including the Manchester Woolworth's fire of 1979. In 1972 the Fire Research Station was merged with the Building Research Station to form the Building Research Establishment
(BRE) and in the 1980s onwards some of BRE's work in non-fire areas was done in the hanger until around 2001; this included multi-storey steel, concrete and wooden buildings which were constructed and then destructively tested within the huge space available. This shed was completely reclad for BRE in the 1990s by the Property Services Agency and its contractors and thus was looked after in comparison with the other shed.
The buildings tests were mentioned during the course of the BBC series "The Conspiracy Files" as evidence in the controversy surrounding the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 on 11 September 2001 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/conspiracy_files/
A company called Airship Industries
tried to revive the fortunes of the airship industry in the other shed in the 1980s, but the efforts ended in failure. The site is currently being used for the development of a new design of airship, the Skycat, by the company Hybrid Air Vehicles.
s (Spirit of Safety I and Spirit of Safety II)were refurbished in Shed 1, prior to their deployment on an European tour promoting road safety.
Bedford (borough)
Bedford is a unitary authority with the status of a borough in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based at Bedford, which is also the county town of Bedfordshire. The borough contains a single urban area, the 69th largest in the United Kingdom that comprises Bedford and...
in Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Part of the ancient hundred of Wixamtree
Wixamtree
Wixamtree is the name of an ancient hundred located in Bedfordshire, England.Wixamtree was one of the hundreds of Bedfordshire, with its council being the primary form of local government in its area from the Anglo-Saxon times to the nineteenth century....
, the settlement is best known in connection with the Cardington airship works founded by Short Brothers
Short Brothers
Short Brothers plc is a British aerospace company, usually referred to simply as Shorts, that is now based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Founded in 1908, Shorts was the first company in the world to make production aircraft and was a manufacturer of flying boats during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, which later became an RAF training station. However most of the former RAF station is actually in the parish of Eastcotts
Eastcotts
Eastcotts is a village and civil parish in the English county of Bedfordshire.-Population:There are two main centres of population in the parish...
, as is the settlement of Shortstown
Shortstown
Shortstown is a village on the outskirts of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England.The village was originally built by Short Brothers for its workers, but evolved into a settlement for people working at the RAF Cardington base....
, which was originally built by Short Brothers for its workers. The old village of Cardington is located to the north east of Shortstown and the RAF station, and houses most of the population of the parish, which was 270 in 2005, making it one of the least populated parishes in Bedfordshire.
Sports
Cardington is the location of the two largest and most successful football clubs in Bedford BoroughBedford (borough)
Bedford is a unitary authority with the status of a borough in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based at Bedford, which is also the county town of Bedfordshire. The borough contains a single urban area, the 69th largest in the United Kingdom that comprises Bedford and...
. Bedford Town F.C.
Bedford Town F.C.
Bedford Town F.C. is an English football club based in the Borough of Bedford. The club are currently members of the Southern League Premier Division and play at The New Eyrie in Cardington, a parish on the outskirts of Bedford....
compete at The New Eyrie ground, and play in the Southern Football League Premier Division. Bedford F.C. use the McMullen Park ground, and play in the Spartan South Midlands Football League
Spartan South Midlands Football League
The Spartan South Midlands Football League is an English football league covering Hertfordshire, northwestern Greater London, central Buckinghamshire and southern Bedfordshire...
Division One. Both of the football grounds are located next to each other on Meadow Lane in Cardington.
Cardington Artificial Slalom Course
Cardington Artificial Slalom Course
Cardington Artificial Slalom Course was the first artificial whitewater canoe slalom course in the UK when it was completed in July 1982, having been first discussed in 1972....
is an artificial whitewater
Artificial whitewater
An artificial whitewater course is a site for whitewater canoeing, whitewater kayaking, whitewater racing, whitewater rafting, playboating and slalom canoeing with artificially generated rapids.-Flow diversion:...
canoe slalom course located on the edge of Cardington next to Priory Country Park
Priory Country Park
Priory Country Park is a country park located in the Newnham area of Bedford, England alongside the River Great Ouse. The park is managed by Bedford Borough Council....
. The course was the first if its kind to be built in the UK, and hosts national canoe slalom competitions and cups. It is also used as a main training area for the Viking Kayak Club
Viking Kayak Club
Viking Kayak Club is an open, community-based, multi-disciplinary club and is now one of the foremost canoe and kayak clubs in the UK. The club offers a broad range of paddling opportunities from easy recreational paddling to competition in canoe slalom, canoe racing and canoe polo and is active in...
.
Sites of interest
The church of St. Mary the Virgin has pieces dating from the 12th century, although the church itself was mostly rebuilt between 1898 and 1902.Airships, barrage balloons and RAF Cardington
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
sites involved in the development of airship
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
s when Short Brothers bought land there to build airships for the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
. They constructed a 700 feet (213.4 m) airship shed (the No. 1 Shed) in 1915 to enable them to build two rigid airships, the R-31 and the R-32. Some 800 people worked there in 1917, most of them travelled daily from Bedford
Bedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
. Shorts also built a housing estate, opposite the site, which they named Shortstown.
The airships site was nationalised
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
in April 1919, becoming known as the Royal Airship Works.
In preparation for the R101
R101
R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airship completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was designed and built by an Air Ministry-appointed team and was effectively in competition...
project the No 1 shed was extended between October 1924 and March 1926; its roof was raised by 35 feet and its length increased to 812 feet. The No. 2 shed (Southern shed), which had originally been located at RNAS Pulham
RNAS Pulham
RNAS Pulham was an Royal Navy Air Service airship station, south of Norwich, UK. Though land was purchased by the Navy in 1912 the site was not operational until 1915...
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, was dismantled in 1928 and re-erected at Cardington.
After the crash of the R101, in October 1930, all work stopped in Britain on airships. Cardington then became a storage station.
In 1936/1937 Cardington started building barrage balloon
Barrage balloon
A barrage balloon is a large balloon tethered with metal cables, used to defend against low-level aircraft attack by damaging the aircraft on collision with the cables, or at least making the attacker's approach more difficult. Some versions carried small explosive charges that would be pulled up...
s; and it became the No 1 RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
Balloon Training Unit.
For both airships and barrage balloons, Cardington manufactured its own hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
, in the Gas Factory, using the steam reforming
Steam reforming
Fossil fuel reforming is a method of producing hydrogen or other useful products from fossil fuels such as natural gas. This is achieved in a processing device called a reformer which reacts steam at high temperature with the fossil fuel. The steam methane reformer is widely used in industry to...
process. In 1948 the Gas Factory became 279 MU (Maintenance Unit), RAF Cardington; and then, in 1955, 217 MU. 217 MU, RAF Cardington, produced all the gases used by the Royal Air Force until its closure in April 2000; including gas cylinder
Gas cylinder
A gas cylinder is a pressure vessel used to store gases at above atmospheric pressure. High pressure gas cylinders are also called bottles. Although they are sometimes colloquially called "tanks", this is technically incorrect, as a tank is a vessel used to store liquids at ambient pressure and...
filling and maintenance.
The two airship sheds ceased being part of the RAF Cardington site in the late 1940s and they were put to other uses. The fence was moved, so they were outside the main RAF Cardington site.
From 1970, No. 2 shed was used by the Fire Research Station for large-scale fire tests in sheltered conditions which could not be carried out at their site in Borehamwood, Herts. Such tests included work on sprinklers in high-rack storage, department stores and other locations, gas explosions (following the Ronan Point disaster of 1969), and reconstructions of notable fires including the Manchester Woolworth's fire of 1979. In 1972 the Fire Research Station was merged with the Building Research Station to form the Building Research Establishment
Building Research Establishment
The Building Research Establishment is a former UK government establishment that carries out research, consultancy and testing for the construction and built environment sectors in the United Kingdom...
(BRE) and in the 1980s onwards some of BRE's work in non-fire areas was done in the hanger until around 2001; this included multi-storey steel, concrete and wooden buildings which were constructed and then destructively tested within the huge space available. This shed was completely reclad for BRE in the 1990s by the Property Services Agency and its contractors and thus was looked after in comparison with the other shed.
The buildings tests were mentioned during the course of the BBC series "The Conspiracy Files" as evidence in the controversy surrounding the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 on 11 September 2001 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/conspiracy_files/
A company called Airship Industries
Airship Industries
Airship Industries was a British manufacturer of modern non-rigid airships active under that name from 1980 to 1990 and controlled for part of that time by Alan Bond. A predecessor company, Aerospace Developments, had been founded in 1971, and a successor, Hybrid Air Vehicles, remains active...
tried to revive the fortunes of the airship industry in the other shed in the 1980s, but the efforts ended in failure. The site is currently being used for the development of a new design of airship, the Skycat, by the company Hybrid Air Vehicles.
Goodyear Blimps, 2011
In early 2011 two Goodyear BlimpGoodyear Blimp
The Goodyear Blimp is the collective name for a fleet of blimps operated by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for advertising purposes and for use as a television camera platform for aerial views of sporting events...
s (Spirit of Safety I and Spirit of Safety II)were refurbished in Shed 1, prior to their deployment on an European tour promoting road safety.
Notable people from Cardington
- Samuel WhitbreadSamuel Whitbread (brewer)Samuel Whitbread was an English brewer and Member of Parliament. In 1742, he established a brewery that in 1799 became Whitbread & Co Ltd.-Biography:...
(1720–1796) – Brewer and MP for BedfordBedfordBedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town... - John HowardJohn Howard (prison reformer)John Howard was a philanthropist and the first English prison reformer.-Birth and early life:Howard was born in Lower Clapton, London. His father, also John, was a wealthy upholsterer at Smithfield Market in the city...
(1726–1790) – Prison Reformer, High Sheriff of Bedfordshire
External links
- Cardington Timeline
- 2001 Census - Parish Profile for Cardington
- 134 (Bedford) Sqn - Air Training Corps (On former RAF Cardington Site)
- St. Mary the Virgin Church in the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland
- The Airship Heritage Trust - Cardington Sheds
- Many photos of Cardington Airship Hangars