The Explosives Factory at Cliffe is situated about two kilometres to the northwest of the village of Cliffe on the south bank of the Thames. The factory began life as a Gunpowder Works, established in 1892 by Hay, Merricks and Company, gunpowder makers of Roslin, Scotland. It was a specialised Gunpowder Works engaged only in the finishing operations of gunpowder manufacture, namely blending, dusting and packing. A jetty was constructed to receive and dispatch powder and the original licence plan showed it was intended to construct 14 buildings. However, it appears that only two buildings were erected. An amending licence was issued and the site was used for the storage of explosives and electrical detonators, with a potential capacity of 400 tons. During the Great War Curtis's and Harvey at Cliffe was listed as a place where gunpowder was either manufactured or stored.
In 1898 the site was acquired by Curtis's and Harvey, gunpowder makers of Hounslow who by this date had a controlling interest in 50% of the British gunpowder industry. The flat, open and remote site at Cliffe was ideal for the construction of a new chemical explosives factory for the manufacture of nitro-glycerine, and nitro-glycerine based products. In June 1901 an amending licence was issued for the manufacture of cordite, blasting gelatine and gelatine dynamite. Further amending licences were granted as the factory expanded including one to manufacture the chlorate based explosive ‘Cheddite’.
The eastern part of the factory is depicted on the 1908 Ordnance Survey map Kent IV.10, but does not show the functions of the individual buildings.
At the end of the Great War Curtis's and Harvey were absorbed into Explosives Trades Limited which later became Nobel Industries Limited. The Cliffe factory was, however, a victim of the sharp downturn in the explosives market at the end of the Great War and the factory closed in 1921.
Extensive remains of the factory survive on Cliffe Marshes with the potential to recover an almost complete plan of the works. The remains comprise earthworks of traverses and the lines of internal tramways, concrete floor slabs and a number of standing but roofless buildings. A row of concrete stanchions also survives on the site, which may represent the line of steam heating pipes or may be an element of a Second World War Bombing Decoy.
An excellent report on the site has been produced by English Heritage, ‘Curtis’s and Harvey Ltd Explosives Factory, Cliffe and Cliffe Woods, Medway: Archaeological Survey and Analysis of the Factory Remains’ which is well worth consulting.
Негізгі бет The remains of an old ammunition factory in Medway, Kent, UK
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