Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Lower and Bennetts Mils were one of four mills, collectively known as the Home Works gunpowder mills, in and around Faversham (See TR 06 SW 45, 247 - 250). A late 18th century plan (BB95/11938 PRO) and 19th century Ordnance Survey maps shown mill buildings and a series of interconnecting leats and streams. Gunpowder production in Faversham ended in the early 20th century between 1919 and 1934. Today the mill buildings have been demolished, the leats covered over and the land used as allotment plots. The main pond and connecting stream surviving, along with a couple of houses, and due to the light horticultural use of the site, may preserve buried archaeological features.

Monument Types

• GUNPOWDER WORKS (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1700 AD? to 1934 AD? (at some time))
• LEAT (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1700 AD? to 1934 AD? (at some time))
• MILL POND (abandoned 1934?, Post Medieval to Modern - 1700 AD? to 2050 AD? (at some time))

Full description

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One of four groups of mills, collectively known as the Home Works gunpowder mills, in and around Faversham (See TR 06 SW 45, 247 – 250) and purchased by the Crown 1760. A late 18th century plan (BB95/11938 PRO) and 19th century Ordnance Survey maps shown a series of interconnecting leats and streams enabling the movement of gunpowder by punt around the site, and to provide power for the gunpowder mills. The mill buildings were concentrated at the eastern edge of the site (TR0127261576). Gunpowder production in Faversham ended in the early 20th century between 1919 and 1934. Today the mill buildings have been demolished and the leats covered over and the land used as allotment plots. The main pond and connecting stream surviving, along with a couple of houses, and due to the light horticultural use of the site, may preserve buried archaeological features. (11 & 20).

The Cranstone Consultancy, 1993, Monuments Protection Programme: The Gunpowder Industry Combined Steps 1-3 Report (Unpublished document). SKE17244.

English Heritage Monuments Protection Programme, 1998, Monuments Protection Programme: Gunpowder Industry (Unpublished document). SKE7298.

<1> Wayne Cocroft/18-NOV-1991/RCHME: Faversham's Explosives Industry. (OS Card Reference). SKE51278.

<2> OS 25" 1907 (OS Card Reference). SKE48258.

<3> Arch J 126 1969 252 (A J Percival) (OS Card Reference). SKE36554.

<4> KAR 20 1970 4-7 photo (A Percival) (OS Card Reference). SKE45259.

<5> KAR 33 1973 89-92 (A H Osborne) (OS Card Reference). SKE45302.

<6> Industrial Arch 1976 220 (K Hudson) (OS Card Reference). SKE44291.

<7> Industrial Arch of SE England 1978 40 photo (A J Haselfoot) (OS Card Reference). SKE44295.

<8> National Trust Guide to our Industrial Past 1983 207 (A Burton) (OS Card Reference). SKE47519.

<9> DOE SAM Record Form 3 Nov 1986 Record Map 22 Nov 1972 (OS Card Reference). SKE40802.

<10> Crocker, G. 1988. Gunpowder Mills Gazetteer SPAB (OS Card Reference). SKE39493.

<11> RCHME/NMR, 1996, RCHME : Faversham Explosives Industry (Collection). SKE6479.

<12> West, J. 1991. Gunpowder, Government and War in the mid-eighteenth century. The Royal Historical So (OS Card Reference). SKE51315.

<13> Selkirk, A. 1967. The Faversham Gunpowder Mills. Current Archaeology 2 51-2 (OS Card Reference). SKE49436.

<14> Public Record Office MPH/857 Plan of the Gunpowder Manufactory at Faversham 1806. (OS Card Reference). SKE48902.

<15> Public Record Office W055/2466 PFNFP 58 Plan of the Gunpowder Manufactory at Faversham 1821 (OS Card Reference). SKE48903.

<16> London, Chatham and North Kent Railway 1846 Plan of the Gunpowder Works. (OS Card Reference). SKE46175.

<17> Eve, D., 1999, A guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Kent (Monograph). SWX9293.

<18> Bennett, C. E., 1977, The watermills of Kent, east of the Medway (Article in serial). SWX7608.

<19> WHITE HOUSE (TR0044 6114) LOWER ROAD, FAVERSHAM. FORMER GUNPOWDER MILLMANS HOUSE. Types: HOUSE (Photograph). SKE838.

<20> English Heritage, 1998, Monuments Protection Programme: Gunpowder Industry (Unpublished document). SWX6799.

<21> Royal Air Force, 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9548.

Sources and further reading

Related records