Yarnfield

Yarnfield is a village in Staffordshire, England. It is considered part of historic Stone, and is near to other historic locations such as Eccleshall and Swynnerton.

It is the site of a very large training and conference centre managed by BT. The site originally named Beatty Hall was one of a number of accommodation camps in the area serving the very large Second World War Cold Meece munitions factory. Most still exist in various guises - Raleigh Hall is now an industrial estate, Drake Hall is a prison, Duncan Hall is now a housing estate having housed Vietnamese refugees in the 70's.

The General Post Office Engineering Department Central Training School opened in Yarnfield in 1946. It occupied buildings at Howard Hall, Duncan Hall and Beatty Hall, which had all acted as transit camps for United States Air Force personnel during the Second World War. In 1984 G.P.O. telephones became British Telecom. The Training Centre had a further change of name in 2002 when it became part of Accenture; British Telecom remain the centre's main customer.

Its only real claim to fame is that it was the subject of one of the largest group ASBOs ever granted. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/3927903.stm BBC news story, 2003] ]

Further research

*Official [http://www.yarnfieldpark.com/ Yarnfield Park Center] website.
* [http://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?theme=276&originator=%2Fengine%2Ftheme%2Fdefault%2Easp&page=&records=&direction=&pointer=3020&text=0&resource=14385 Staffordshire Past Track] has old photos and some further info.
* [http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/s/swynnerton_royal_ordnance_filling_factory/index.shtml Subterranea Britannica] has an article on the nearby Cold Meece Royal Ordnance Factory.

References