We’re used to Jaguar Land Rover revisiting its long and storied past, particularly with the new Classic division producing heritage editions of vehicles, such as the lightweight Jaguar E-type and XKSS.
But JLR also has some buildings with illustrious histories, none more so than its Castle Bromwich plant, where vehicles such as the Jaguar XF, Jaguar F-Type and now the Jaguar XE, are built.
The factory on Chester Road in east Birmingham was built in 1938 to assist with the build of the Spitfire fighter plane - taking the pressure off the facility in Southampton - as well as components for Lancaster bombers.
At its peak it was churning out 320 Spitfires per month, so unsurprisingly it became a target for Luftwaffe bombing raids. The area was hit by more than 200 bombs during the war, which in total killed 11 workers and injured 55, making the reason for an on-site hospital and the aforementioned morgue starkly and tragically clear.
Spitfire production ended in November 1945, and the Castle Bromwich became a car body factory, owned by Fisher and Ludlow, then British Leyland, and now by JLR. Some of the site has been significantly altered as JLR has modernised its production machinery and methods, but other areas are listed and must be maintained in period.
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