Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills
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The Royal Gunpowder Mills are a former industrial site in Waltham Abbey, England. It was one of three Royal Gunpowder Mills in the United Kingdom (the others being at Ballincollig and Faversham). Waltham Abbey is the only site to have survived virtually intact.
The Royal
Shortly after the
The Mills are an Anchor Point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage, set in 175 acres (0.71 km2) of parkland and containing 21 buildings of major historical importance.
Pre-gunpowder use of the site
The story of gunpowder production at
The Hudson family sold out to William Walton at the end of the 17th century, starting a family connection lasting almost a hundred years. The enterprise was successful under the Walton's tenure, especially thanks to the efforts of William's widow, Philippa Walton, and the Mills expanded up the Millhead Stream as additional production facilities were added; the material progressing from one building to another as it passed through the various processes. The Waltham Abbey Mills were one of the first examples in the 18th century of an industrialised factory system, not often recognised. In 1735 they were described by Thomas Fuller, a local historian, as "the largest and compleatest works in Great Britain."[1]
Purchase of the site by the Crown
In the 1780s there was fresh concern over security, quality and economy of supply. The deputy comptroller of the Royal Laboratory at
Reflecting this, the mills were able to respond successfully in volume and quality to the massive increases in demand which arose over the period of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars from 1789, culminating in the victory at Waterloo in 1815. In the years following Waterloo the Mills entered a period of quiet with a steep decline in staff numbers and production levels. However, there was a steady advance in machinery and process development.[1]
The quiet was not to last. Conflict broke out in 1854 with the Crimean War with Russia, followed by the Indian Mutiny and a succession of colonial conflicts followed, culminating in the Boer War of 1899 - 1902.[1]
All of this provided the impulse for further development. Whilst the mills' function was to provide gunpowder for military use, either as a propellant for use in guns, or as a military explosive for demolition, etc., improvements effected there were a strong influence on private industry producing for civil activity - construction, mining, quarrying, tunnelling, railway building etc. which created a massive demand for gunpowder in the 19th century.[1]
First World War
The First World War from 1914 to 1918 brought a huge upsurge in demand. The East Flank, including a long range of Cordite incorporating mills, designed by Harry Bell Measures, was built at this time. Staff numbers increased by around 3,000 to a total of 6,230. The 3,000 additional workers were largely female, recruited from the surrounding area, and this was a significant social phenomenon.[1]
After World War I there was another period of quiet before anxieties about the future surfaced again. It was decided that production at Waltham Abbey would be gradually transferred to the west of the country, more distant and thus safer from air attack from Europe. However, in the meantime, production continued and crucial development work was carried out on
Second World War
During Second World War, Waltham Abbey remained an important cordite production unit and for the first two years of the war was the sole producer of RDX. RDX is one component of torpex, the explosive that was used in the Bouncing Bomb.[2]
Total transfer of RDX production to the west of England, to
The Royal Gunpowder Mills finally closed on 28 July 1945.[4]
Post World War use of the site
In 1945 the establishment re-opened as a research centre known as The Explosives Research and Development Establishment, or ERDE.[1]
In 1977 it became the
In 1984 the South site and the Lower Island works were handed over to Royal Ordnance Plc immediately before it was privatised.[6]
The North side however remained in Ministry of Defence control as a research centre; becoming part of the
Sale of the North site by the Ministry of Defence
Heritage site
A large area of the north site is listed as the
Narrow-gauge railway
The 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge narrow-gauge railway is 700 yards (640 m) long and has two stations. It is sometimes known as the Hidden Railway.[9]
Name | Builder | Works number | Type | Built | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
John H. Bowles | Baguley-Drewry |
3755 | DH |
1981 | |
Ruhrthaler | 3920 | DH |
1969 | ||
Hunslet | 8828 | BE |
19679 | ||
Greenwood and Batley |
6099 | 2w-2 DE |
1964 | 3 ft (914 mm) gauge | |
Budleigh | Ruston & Hornsby | 235624 | DM |
1945 | 18 in (457 mm) ex-Bicton Woodland Railway |
Carneige | Hunslet | 4524 | DM |
1954 | 18 in (457 mm) ex-Bicton Woodland Railway |
Sale of the South site by Royal Ordnance
After the South site, also known as Quinton Hill,[10] was vacated and also decontaminated and redeveloped, much of the remaining land was converted into the 255 acres (103 ha) Gunpowder Park, which is part of the Lee Valley Park and was opened in 2004. The regenerated parkland is dedicated to the arts, science and wildlife.[11]
Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills in popular culture
- H.G. Wells Book 1 Chapter 17 ‘The Thunder Child’ Here there were rumours of Martians at Epping, and news of the destruction of Waltham Abbey Powdermills in a vain attempt to blow up one of the invaders.[12]
- The mill also appears in Michael Ondaatje's 2018 novel Warlight: Shortly after the end of World War II the protagonist Nathaniel Williams helps his mentor, 'The Darter', transporting illegal greyhounds and, later, boxed cargo inland through the canal network from the River Thames, including the Gunpowder Mills canal system.[13]
- On 3 May 2020 the mills were featured in an episode of the BBCs Countryfile programme.[14]
- Author and naturalist BBC4 programme The Hidden Wilds of the Motorway broadcast on 30 June 2020.[15]
Digital archive
After the closure of ERDE, the inherited archive material passed through a number of hands and storage locations, particularly in the latter period before opening to the public, when outside staff from the firm designing the exhibition had to have free access. Consequently by 2001 the archive had become rather disorganised. The opportunity has therefore been taken to start a ground-up exercise involving a complete check of the holding and the design of computer databases of the material in order to produce the digital catalogue.[16]
- Our archive has been digitised and is available to view online at www.wargm.org.[16]
- Funding for the online archive was donated by the Royal Gunpowder Mills Friends Association.[17]
- The archive is also listed on The National Archives website.[18]
See also
- Ballincollig Royal Gunpowder Mills
- Cordite
- Faversham explosives industry
- Gunpowder
- Gunpowder magazines in England
- TNT
- RDX
- J. E. Gordon
References
- Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "300 years of history". Royal Gunpowder Mills. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- ^ Sweetman, John (2002) The Dambusters Raid. London: Cassell Military Paperbacks. p. 144.
- ^ "Fracking firm to drill on former explosives site". The Guardian. 4 April 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- ^ Lewis 2009, p. 73
- ^ Lewis 2009, p. 76
- ^ "Ministry of Defence: Further Examination of the Sale of Royal Ordnance plc" (PDF). National Audit Office. p. 1. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- ^ "Land Train Tours". Royal Gunpowder Mills. 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
- ^ "Short fuses over holiday camp at gunpowder site". The Times. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- ^ James, Jonathan (May 2021). Narrow Gauge Railways London and South East England. Narrow Gauge Railway Society.
- ^ National archives Retrieved 23 October 2009
- ^ Gunpowder Park Retrieved 15 September 2009
- ^ Wells, H. G. (1898). The War of the Worlds. William Heinemann.
- ISBN 978-0-525-52119-8.
- ^ "Joe's patch". BBC Countryfile. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- ^ "The Hidden Wilds of the Motorway". BBC. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
- ^ a b "Archive Index". www.wargm.org.
- ^ "Friends Association". Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills. 4 July 2018.
- ^ "The Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills Archive". National Archives. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
- Sources
- Cocroft, Wayne D. (2000). Dangerous Energy: The archaeology of Gunpowder and military explosives manufacture. Swindon: ISBN 1-85074-718-0.
- Elliott, Bryn (1996). "The Royal Gunpowder Factory Explosions 1940". In: ISSN 0306-154X.
- Elliott, Bryn (1998). "Royal Gunpowder Factory Sequel". In: ISSN 0306-154X.
- Lewis, Jim (2009). From Gunpowder to Guns: The Story of Two Lea Valley Armouries. Middlesex University Press. ISBN 978-1-904750-85-7.
- (N/A), (1993). The Royal Gunpowder Factory, Waltham Abbey, Essex: An RCHME Survey, 1993. London: Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. ISBN 1-87359-225-6
- ISBN 1-86207-547-6
External links
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