# Cliffe, Kent - Curtis & Harvey Gunpowder Factory



## scoobyboy (Aug 4, 2009)

Hi

First ever post on anything ever !!!

I have always been fascinated by derelict buildings/sites and also enjoy exploring old military sites (forts, pill boxes et al)

When i need some 'me time' i go down to Cliffe Marshes in Kent - great place and quite remote for somewhere so close to London.

Curtis & Harvey manufactured gunpowder here from around the 1830's until the start of the 20th century - see attached link with an aerial shot of the site which is vast (sorry i could not work out how to paste the picture in)

Curtis & Harvey appear to have been a very important manufacturer of gunpowder with sites all around the UK - they eventually became part of ICI in the 1920's. The site at Cliffe appears to have ceased production in 1904 after an explosion which was serious enough to provoke an inquiry by Parliament

There are numerous mounds and buildings to explore + the remains of pools which stored water to assist with the manufacture of nitroglycerine. As with all explosive factories there are lots of individual buildings to prevent an explosion in one blowing up the rest of the site. Some of the buildings look like they have suffered from some form of explosion

Be warned - this site is on land owned by a shoot - i got a bit of a talking too once when i was down there with my Springer Spaniel - they thought i was up to no good with the game

The site is near Cliffe Fort which is an excellent site to visit (i have photos from here as well and will post these soon) - basically follow the shoreline to the East and you will see the mounds etc.

There is also the site of a WW2 bomb factory further inland (photos once again to follow)

And if you like birds (feathered variety) you can do a bit of twitching at Cliffe Pools as well !!!

http://www.heritageexplorer.org.uk/web/he/searchdetail.aspx?id=5615&crit=aerial

Hope this is of interest - as i say first post so testing the water to an extent - i need to work out how to put words on each picture as well !!

Cheers





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## Misstee (Aug 4, 2009)

An interesting post - some great pics - the sky in no.2 is amazing.

Some of those structures are really cool given the history of the site.

Thanks for sharing.


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## scoobyboy (Aug 4, 2009)

thanks

agree re photo 2 - sky looks great

i cant claim that i caught that deliberately tho - pure luck !!

on a fine day you can see for miles from the top of the mounds


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## jonney (Aug 4, 2009)

Nice photo's there scooby. I remember seeing photo's of this place before on here but there wasn't any history on the place. Keep up the good work


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