Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A large scale gun cotton plant was opened at this site in 1873 and produced a wide range of products such as distress signals, gelignite and dynamite. Other explosives industries moved in, including one making shell charges using TNT. The site was of particular strategic importance in World War One although two serious explosions occurred in 1916 and 1918. The plants went out of use from 1919, finally shutting down in 1934, leaving earthworks, concrete bases and derelict wharves.

Monument Types

• CHEMICAL WORKS (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1873 AD? to 1934 AD?)
• GENERATOR HOUSE (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1873 AD? to 1934 AD?)
• GUNPOWDER WORKS (foundations, earthworks, Post Medieval to Modern - 1873 AD to 1934 AD)
• MAGAZINE (Demolished, Post Medieval to Modern - 1873 AD? to 1934 AD?)

Full description

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The Cotton Powder Co. Ltd. (C.P.C.) opened a gun cotton plant at Faversham in 1873. The factory was situated on the Uplees marshes, alongside the Swale. The plant prospered and expanded till in 1915 its premises occupied a 500 acre site and its range of products also included distress signals, detonators, cordite, gelignite and dynamite. Apart from the processing facilities the site had its own coal-gas plant, electricity generators, boilers, rail-mounted crane jetty and its own part-time fire brigade. Before World War I other explosives manufacturers set up in business nearby, making Faversham, for a few years, one of the major centres, perhaps the main centre of the U.K. industry. Among the newcomers was the Explosives Loading Company Ltd. (E.L.C.) which, in 1912, established a plant immediately west of the Cotton Powder Co (TQ 96 NE 1039). to compress T.N.T., and later ammonium nitrate, into charges for shells, torpedoes and mines. On 2nd April, 1916, a massive explosion occurred at the Explosives Loading Company Ltd. (E.L.C.) plant immediately west of the Cotton Powder Company works, killing at least 106 people. Some of the CPC buildings were damaged but not as badly as the ELC site. In 1918 there was another explosion at Uplees, at the C.P.C.

In November, 1918, Explosives Trades Ltd. took over most of the Eley Brothers Ltd. - a small works at Harty Ferry. Following the amalgamation almost all production ceased at the three factories. Most of the buildings of light softwood-frame construction were either burnt or sold off.

The few surviving works buildings at Uplees saw their last operative use in 1934-6. Most of the area has earthworks, a scattering of concrete foundations, the remains of a dock and jetty, and a couple of artesian wells. The east end of the C.P.C. site was worked for gravel until recently and some of the C.P.C. earthworks built into the ridge to the south are being steadily submerged by discarded rubbish and foam from scrap cars (1). The Uplees explosives factories were surveyed by RCHME in 1991. The site is occupied by marsh land grazing, in part a nature reserve, other parts of the site have been subjected to gravel extraction and used for car breaking. Remains of the factories may be found spread across the whole area, as concrete footings for timber and corrugated iron buildings, earthen blast banks around former sites of buildings and rotting jetties along the River Swale. The only large scale cartographic depiction of the factories that has been located are the current edition OS 1:2500 plans TQ 98 65, 99 63, 99 64, 99 65, TR 0064, 0065, 01 64. These show the larger earthworks and concrete bases that fall within current mapping conventions, how ever significantly more features could be shown if the area was to be mapped at a larger scale. Unfortunately specific functions could not be ascribed to many of the buildings nor precise dates, however a number of structures may be dated with reference to the known development of the factory (2a).

Owing to the large area to be covered and the uniformity of many of the structures only selected areas of the site were visited, described and photographed. Short descriptions of those features examined are included in the NMR archive (2). Additional references (3,4). Mentioned in context with regions munitions industry (5). For site on context with others in the inter-tidal zone, see (6) and photographs relevant to the site and monument (7-39).

Historic England, Archive material associated with Uplees Explosives Factories, near Oare (Archive). SKE54323.

<1> Arch Cant 100 1984 425-63 maps plates (A Percival) (OS Card Reference). SKE34544.

<2> RCHME/NMR, 1996, RCHME : Faversham Explosives Industry (Collection). SKE6479.

<3> Wayne Cocroft/22-NOV-1991/RCHME: Faversham's Explosives Industry. (OS Card Reference). SKE51281.

<4> Percival, A J. 1967. The Faversham Gunpowder Industry and its Development. Faversham Paper No. 4 (OS Card Reference). SKE48507.

<5> Cocroft, Wayne, 1995, The munitions industry (Article in monograph). SWX9357.

<6> Eve, D., 1999, A guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Kent, G7 (Monograph). SWX9293.

<7> GENERAL VIEW FROM EAST TR 0013 6543 (Photograph). SKE831.

<8> MACHINE BASE FROM N.E. TR 00610 65256 (Photograph). SKE816.

<9> DAN'S DOCK FROM S.W. TR 00560 65300. Types: DOCK (Photograph). SKE821.

<10> GENERAL VIEW FROM EAST TR 0013 6543 (Photograph). SKE830.

<11> GENERAL VIEW FROM N.W. TR 0053 6514. (Photograph). SKE818.

<12> STORE BUILDING FROM S.W. TR 00130 64673 Types: BUILDING (Photograph). SKE833.

<13> BUILDING FROM N.W. TR 99970 64270 Types: BUILDING (Photograph). SKE834.

<14> BUILDING FROM N.E. TR 99970 64270. Types: BUILDING (Photograph). SKE835.

<15> DETAIL OF DOOR TR 00514 65108. (Photograph). SKE829.

<16> DAN'S DOCK FROM S.E. TR 00560 65300. Types: DOCK (Photograph). SKE820.

<17> CONCRETE JETTY FROM S.W. TR 0022 6543 Types: JETTY (Photograph). SKE832.

<18> BUILDING FROM SOUTH. TR 00566 65186. Types: BUILDING (Photograph). SKE827.

<19> CONCRETE BUILDING BASE FROM N.E. TR 00610 65256 Types: BUILDING (Photograph). SKE841.

<20> TANK AND BUILDING FROM N.W. TR 00558 65197. Types: BUILDING (Photograph). SKE819.

<21> BULDING SET WITHIN 'L' SHAPED BLAST BANK FROM N.W. TR 0100 64324 Types: BUILDING (Photograph). SKE824.

<22> TANK FROM S.E. TR 00558 65197 (Photograph). SKE825.

<23> BUILDING FROM N.W. TR 01000 64324 Types: BUILDING (Photograph). SKE823.

<24> DETAIL OF DOOR. TR 00514 65108. (Photograph). SKE828.

<25> BRICK STRUCTURE FROM N.E. TR 00804 65093. Types: BUILDING (Photograph). SKE840.

<26> DAN'S DOCK POND FROM S.E. TR 00560 65300. Types: DOCK (Photograph). SKE817.

<27> 'L' SHAPED BLAST BANK FROM N.W. TR 01100 64354. (Photograph). SKE822.

<28> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9536.

<29> 1941, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10013.

<30> 1998, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10182.

<31> 1998, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10183.

<32> 1998, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10201.

<33> 1998, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10202.

<34> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10376.

<35> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10377.

<36> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10378.

<37> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10456.

<38> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10457.

<39> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10458.

Sources and further reading

Related records