Faversham, in Kent, England, has claims to be the cradle of the UK's explosives industry: it was also to become one of its main centres. The first gunpowder plant in the UK was established in the 16th century, possibly at the instigation of the abbey at Faversham. With their estates and endowments, monasteries were keen to invest in promising technology.
Faversham was well placed. It had a stream which could be dammed at intervals to provide power for watermills. On its outskirts were low-lying areas ideal for the culture of alder and willow to provide charcoal, one of the three key gunpowder ingredients. The stream fed into a tidal creek where sulphur, another key ingredient, could be imported, and the finished product loaded for dispatch to Thames-side magazines. The port was also near the Continent where, in time of war, demand for gunpowder was brisk.
Gunpowder
The first factories
The first factories were small, near the town, and alongside the stream, between the London to Dover road (now the A2) and the head of the creek. By the early 18th century, these had coalesced into a single plant, subsequently known as the Home Works, as it was the town's first.
At this time the British government was buying its supplies from the private sector, but the quality was often poor, and in 1759 it decided it needed its own plant. Rather than build a new one, it nationalised the Home Works, upgrading all the machinery. From this phase dates the Chart Gunpowder Mill, the oldest of its kind in the world (at ). It was rescued from demolition, and then restored by the Faversham Society in 1966. It is now open to the public on weekend and bank holiday afternoons from April until the end of October.
Nearby is Stonebridge Pond, today a picturesque beauty spot at the head of the creek. It served to power some of the works' watermills, slender remains of which survive. It still features a network of narrow-gauge canals along which powder was punted from process to process.
Expansion
In the 1680s a second factory was started by Huguenot asylum-seekers alongside another stream about west of the town (at ). It had its own access to the sea via Oare Creek and so became known as the Oare Works, although it was wholly in the parish of Davington. It became a leading supplier to the British East India Company.
Gunpowder from Faversham was not just used in warfare. It played a key part in the Industrial Revolution, by enabling routes to be blasted for canals and railways.
The third and last gunpowder factory to open was the Marsh Works (at ), built by the British government one km northwest of the town to augment output at its Home Works; it opened in 1787. It also had access to the sea via Oare Creek.
In the wake of the Napoleonic Wars, the government leased its Faversham works back to the private sector – the Home Works in 1816 and the Marsh Works in 1834 – selling them in 1825 and 1854 respectively. Explosives manufacture continued unabated at both sites under private ownership.
Closure
All three gunpowder factories shut in 1934. Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), then the owners, believing that war might break out with Germany, and realised that Faversham would then become vulnerable to air attack or possibly invasion. They transferred production, together with key staff and machinery, to Ardeer in Ayrshire, Scotland.
The sites today
The Marsh Works became a site for mineral extraction, as it remains today, and almost all its buildings were destroyed. Except for Chart Mill, Stonebridge Pond, and a few other buildings, most of the Home Works site was redeveloped for housing in the 1960s.
The Oare Works is now a country park, open to the public free of charge all year round. Remains of process houses have been conserved. The site has a visitor centre, signed trails radiate in various directions. An early 20th-century electric-powered gunpowder mill, which was transferred to Ardeer in 1934, has been repatriated and is on display. The 18th-century works bell has also been re-deployed and is on display at Faversham's Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre.
Guncotton
Gunpowder is a low explosive, best used as a propellant. Guncotton, the first high explosive, more useful for its destructive powers, was invented by Dr Christian Schonbein, of the University of Basel, in 1846. Under licence from him, it was first manufactured at Faversham's Marsh Works in 1847.
1847 explosion
The manufacturing process was not yet fully understood. On 14 July 1847 a serious explosion killed 18 staff, only 10 of whose bodies could be identified. As a result of the blast, the factory owners shut the plant.