So I was out on a bike ride with some friends a few years ago and came across this place, I had NEVER heard of it and have been going riding/walking/camping and exploring them for the past 20 years! Amazing what you can miss just by not looking!! I apologise for the quality of the pics as they were on iPhone, but I plan to go back and do a full explore with a good camera so will up date then.
After some searching I've found a LOT of history on this place, heres some from pastscape.com
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.
So on with some pics
view from the marsh
not the way to go with a bike
southside tunnel to best preserved nitro glycerine bunker/store
northside tunnel
inside the nitro bunker
and again
from in the munitions stores
this is on the other side of the area to the rest and seems to be different from the rest, used by sheep now...
Hope people find this interesting, there's alot more to explore and I have some good vids of around the nitro bunker
After some searching I've found a LOT of history on this place, heres some from pastscape.com
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.
So on with some pics
view from the marsh
not the way to go with a bike
southside tunnel to best preserved nitro glycerine bunker/store
northside tunnel
inside the nitro bunker
and again
from in the munitions stores
this is on the other side of the area to the rest and seems to be different from the rest, used by sheep now...
Hope people find this interesting, there's alot more to explore and I have some good vids of around the nitro bunker
