Chart Gunpowder Mills
Chart Close, Faversham, Kent, ME13 8NS.
Gunpowder (the first explosive) was being made in Faversham by 1573 using water-power to drive the machinery
The first factory (the Home Works, location of the Chart Mills) developed along Westbrook, the watercourse which feeds Faversham Creek.
By the 18th century it occupied a site about a mile long.
1759 From their origins as small Gunpowder factories along the stream, the Home Gunpowder Works was nationalised by the Government. The Royal Powder Mill was established there. The Chart Gunpowder Mills dates from this time, the oldest remaining in the world.[1]
1810 Appointment of Richard V. Minty, Esq. as storekeeper of the Royal Powder Mills; coloured drawing of the storekeeper's house [c.1810]
1825 Sale of the Royal Powder Mills, Ordnance lands and premises.
Chart Gunpowder Mills were a group of two pairs, each pair operating in tandem off a central water-wheel. One complete mill remains, the oldest of its kind in the world. In 1966, destined for the scrapheap, it was rescued and restored by the Faversham Society. It is open free of charge from April to October, 2-5 pm, on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. It has served as a prototype for replicas at Ballincollig, Co Cork, and Launceston in Tasmania. Displays inside include a superb scale-model of the mill machinery.[2]
See Also
Sources of Information
- [3] National Archives