Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

19th century Portland cement works established by Francis and Company in 1866. One of the site engineers, C Michele, was responsible for introducing a number of innovations to the industry in the late 19th century, including a new cement testing machine and an improved design of chamber kiln, an example of which may survive at the works at West Street. There are substantial remains of a rectangular bank of nine bottle kilns.The structural remains of some of the cement works buildings were mapped from 1947 RAF aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. Established in 1863, the site had closed by 1908. The works included nine bottle kilns.

Monument Types

• CEMENT WORKS (Post Medieval to Modern - 1863 AD to 1908 AD)
• KILN (Post Medieval to Modern - 1863 AD to 1908 AD)
• MILLSTONE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1863 AD to 1908 AD)
• BOILER HOUSE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1866 AD to 1908 AD)
• COOLING POND (Post Medieval to Modern - 1866 AD to 1908 AD)

Full description

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[TQ 7086 7691] Grid reference based on Fig 2, Authority (1). The works were started by Francis and Company in the 1860's. The most significant survival of the Nine Elms Works is the remains of nine bottle kilns (see plan in source 1 p.109). The row of kilns is 177ft long, 12 ft high. When in production they would have been double this height with a conical brick superstructure above each kiln. No trace of the superstructure survives. There are sections of a wrought iron chimney scattered about the site of the works. These sections formed part of a 156 ft chimney on the site. Other artefacts on the site include a set of concrete edge rollers (presumably for crushing chalk), a millstone (for grinding the cement clinker), and a circular concrete base (possibly of base of an edge roller mill). There is also a single Lancashire boiler lying on the inland side of the works, not apparently in its original position. The surviving remains of the Works suggest it was a medium sized works using the technology of the 1860's, which may have had additional facilities for drying the cement slurry (the raw materials chalk and clay mixed with water) before it was fired. The slurry 'backs' were probably on the land side of the works. Interestingly, General Gordon who commanded the Thames defences, complained about the fumes from the Works. The works were in their heyday after 1886 when Francis and Company amalgamated with other firms in Cliffe, however a further amalgamation in 1900 heralded the end of the Works, as they became out of date and uneconomic. At Cliffe the Alpha Works (1910-1967-TQ 77 NW 121) became the future of cement production before it was in turn replaced by Works at Northfleet. All the works are surrounded by the clay extraction quarries supplying the industry (source 1 p.107 fig 1c), while the land to the south of the Alpha Works has been used for gravel extraction (1).
Additional bibliography (2,3). Works established by Francis & Co in the late 1860s (Charles Francis 1777-1863 was a pioneer of cement manufacture). Amalgameted with APCM (Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers) between 1886 and 1900.
Tramway (TQ 77 NW 124) connected the works with a chalkpit to the east and Johnson's later works (TQ 77 NW 125).
Site photographs (4-10).
Largely demolished, foundations visible in places and a large concrete building still standing which is probably the kiln (11)
Additonal information. Suggests the works shut by 1908, report provides site visit information (12).

Monument Protection Programme Report for site Cliffe B states that the components of the Mill have a high group value and high archaeological potential and are of national importance. The survival of edge rollers (runners?) is unusual (13).

Evidence points to production beginning here in 1869. The edge runners have been removed [c2006] from the site and now are utilised as boundary markers and village name signs for Cliffe Woods and Cliffe. They probably survived on site for so long due to having been used in the production of whiting before the works were abandoned. Concrete walls to a low level exist beside the Creek to the east of the site, probably being the remains of a store. The edge runners may have been associated with a whiting shed erected when Alfred Francis took over some land adjoining the Nine Elms works in 1875 [Darnley Mss. U565 E11] (14)

This feature is mentioned in the English Heritage Historic Area Assessment for Cliffe Parish. The report states:
"Chalk had been quarried at this location since Saxon times, and by the early 1940s production had intensified: a Whiting works, where chalk was pulverized for use in whitewash and putty was established in the early 19th century on the banks of Cliffe Creek, which was linked to quarries near Manor Farm by means of a canal. A short-lived small-scale venture in Portland cement by IC Johnson followed in 1853 but the works started by Francis and Company in the late 1860s on the same site were larger and longer-lasting, bringing a new prosperity to the parish. An offshoot of firm’s business at Nine Elms, Vauxhall, London, the Cliffe Creek works grew rapidly under the supervision of the young engineer Vitale de Michelle (1848-1906) manufacturing Portland cement with the brand name ‘Nine Elms’ as well as Roman, Medina and Parian cement, Portland stucco, Plaster of Paris, shipping chalk, flints and fire bricks. The works were a conspicuous feature from both landward and seaward vantages with rows of smoking bottle kilns, a 156-foot high stayed chimney and an elaborate series of tramways that complemented the canal. In 1886 Francis & Company amalgamated with other local firms including Empson, Holcombe and Company but a further amalgamation in 1900 with 23 other firms to form Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers marked the onset of decline at the Francis works which finally wound up in 1920. However in 1910 Thames Portland opened its works on an adjacent site bringing continuous local employment until the late 20th century…The late 19th century population growth of Cliffe created a demand for housing on an unprecedented scale. Most of this demand came from workers at Francis & Company's cement factory and early on the company provided housing for some of its employees erecting in the 1870s houses and cottages along Salt Lane, opposite the works." (15)

Jim Preston Personal Communication (Verbal communication). SKE13236.

Jim Preston Personal Communication (Verbal communication). Ske13236.

Jim Preston, ? 2005, Two kiln blocks at Cliffe (Nine Elms Works) (Unpublished document). SKE30892.

<1> Barnes, B. and Innes, B., 1984, A nineteenth Century Cement Works at Cliffe (Article in serial). SWX7719.

<2> Indust Medway an Historical Survey 1977 174 (JM Preston) (OS Card Reference). SKE44286.

<3> Barnes, B. and Innes, B., 1984, A nineteenth Century Cement Works at Cliffe, p.106-110 (Article in serial). SWX7719.

<4> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9425.

<5> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9635.

<6> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9636.

<7> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9775.

<8> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9858.

<9> 1941, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10110.

<10> 1941, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10111.

<11> Wessex Archaeology, 2005, North Kent Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey: Phase ll: Field Assessment Year Two Report (Unpublished document). SWX12323.

<12> Eve, David., 1999, The Cement Industry in Kent: Results of a Sites and Monuments Record Enhancement Project 1996 - 98 (Unpublished document). SKE12011.

<13> English Heritage Monuments Protection Programme, 2001, Lime, Cement and Plaster Industries Step 4 Report (Unpublished document). SKE12174.

<14> Jim Preston Personal Communication (Verbal communication). SKE13236.

<15> historic england, 2014, Hoo Peninsula Outline Historic Area Assessment: Cliffe and Cliffe Woods Parish. Research Report 2014-54 (Bibliographic reference). SKE31591.

Sources and further reading

Related records

Related thematic articles

• Industrial Kent (Thematic Essay)