Featured in the book THE DAY THE SUN DISAPPEARED. 

This is the Cock Inn in Hanbury, East Staffordshire, or what remained of it after the largest explosion in Britain not caused by enemy warfare, on 27 November 1944.

Beneath the surrounding fields, thousands of bombs were being stored and refurbished in disused alabaster mines, a catastrophe waiting to happen.

In a single moment, the explosion tore through the countryside, leaving a crater the size of six football pitches and swallowing an entire farm. The blast was heard in London and recorded on a seismograph as far away as Geneva.

For decades, the disaster was hidden from public view under the Official Secrets Act. Families were left devastated, communities shattered, and survivors haunted by what they witnessed that day.

Even now, the area remains fenced off, as unexploded bombs may still lie beneath the ground.

This forgotten wartime tragedy became the inspiration for Margaret Moxom’s The Day the Sun Disappeared, a powerful story that brings to life the people, fear, loss, and resilience behind one of Britain’s most devastating hidden disasters.