There was a large Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF Chorley) built here in the buildup to the Second World War (Nevell "et al.", 1999). At its peak the factory employed over 40,000 people, and had its own railway station. It was probably the biggest munitions filling factory in the world, and it is said that the bouncing bombs used in the Dambusters raid were made there. ROF Chorley later came under the ownership of British Aerospace, and in subsequent years was closed down with the land being sold. In the early 2000s the former ROF Chorley site was effectively flattened and sanitised, so that the land could be transformed into the new Buckshaw Village.