The History of the Gunpowder Mills at Waltham Abbey

Mark Hardman MIExpE and WARGM Volunteer

The Royal Gunpowder Mills at Waltham Abbey has a long and fascinating history. It has shaped military history as well as the development of civil industries such as mining and quarrying. It began as a family run business making gunpowder, but later became Crown property and a major local employer of workers in the Lea Valley. Over the centuries the factory grew, adopting to new technologies, and expanding its workforce to meet increasing demand for explosives and propellants.
Research, development and production continued at the site until World War 2 (WW2). After World War 1, the Ministry of Supply had been considering rationalising its explosives sites in the belief that another such war would never take place again. But once the Gunpowder Mills became in reach of German bombers of WW2, it was decided to move production to sister sites at Westcott and Summerfield. The Waltham Abbey site remained a government owned top-secret Explosives Research and Development Establishment until it was finally closed in 1991. The site was designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by English Heritage and reopened to the public in 2001 as a visitor attraction and Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The Origins of Gunpowder

Gunpowder was discovered by Chinese alchemists searching for the elixir of life. The Complete Essentials for the Military Classics (“Wujing Zongyao“), is a Chinese military compendium written around 1040 to 1044. The book covers a wide range of subjects, including everything from naval warships to different types of catapults. It contains the earliest known written chemical formulas for gunpowder, made from saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal. In addition to formulae for gunpowder, the compendium also contains details on various other gunpowder weapons such as fire arrows, incendiary bombs and projectiles, and grenades and smoke bombs.

Roger Bacon (1220-1292), a Franciscan Monk & Medieval English philosopher was also a major medieval proponent of experimental science and the modern scientific method. Bacon studied mathematics, astronomy, optics, alchemy, and languages.

He was the first European to document in detail the process of making gunpowder. He encoded the recipe for gunpowder as he was well aware of the great power it could provide and its potential use in war. However, the formula spread though other parts of Europe and by the early 1300s Gunpowder was being manufactured in the Tower of London by hand methods using imported materials.

Gunpowder Manufacture at Waltham Abbey

In the 17th Century “Oyle Mills” (making vegetable oil) were converted to gunpowder mills due to shortages of black powder and high demand during the 2nd Dutch war. The earliest record of an Oyle mill being converted to the production of Gunpowder in the Lea valley was in 1640 at Sewardstone, near Waltham Abbey. In 1643, Samuel Hudson, tenant of an Oyle Mill on what is now the Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills site, converted his first mill to Gunpowder production. His brother, Ralph Hudson, signed an ordnance contract to supply gunpowder to the government in 1665.

The first recorded Title Deed for gunpowder manufacture was conferred on Samuel Hudson in 1669, recoding “an Oyle Mill, lately converted into two powder mills ... in the tenure of Samuel Hudson“. However, in 1694, the Mills at Waltham Abbey fell into disgrace after Peter Hudson was accused of supplying bad powder and fined.

William Walton, a London merchant and gunpowder manufacturer, took over the gunpowder mills at Waltham Abbey in 1702. In 1711, at the age of 43, William died suddenly, and without having made a will. By statute his estate was held on trust for his wife, Philippa Walton (née Bourchier, born in 1674) and their ten children, all of whom were minors.

The family’s fortunes were saved when thirty-five-year-old Philippa took control of her husband’s estate, which comprised one of the largest gunpowder operations in the country with an office in London and production facilities in Balham, Surrey and at the gunpowder mills in Waltham Abbey. Overcoming personal tragedy and the general prejudice of the age she succeeded in turning her business into one of the pre-eminent gunpowder mills of its time.

The business had been thriving thanks to the demand for ordnance during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701 to 1713). However, shortly after Philippa took over, hostilities ceased with the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, leading to a much-reduced demand for gunpowder until the outbreak of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740 to 1748). This relatively peaceful period posed a major problem for the industry that saw many gunpowder producers go out of business. Philippa, however, rose to the challenge of these difficult trading conditions, successfully managing her affairs so that she survived when many others failed. She rationalised her business, closing her plant in Balham to focus production at Waltham Abbey.

Thanks to her business acumen she was able to expand the premises in Waltham Abbey in January 1719 buying three further powder mills on the site as well as the rights to the Mill Stream.

In 1723 she took one of her sons, John, into the business as a junior 25% partner.
He became an equal partner seven years later, but she remained actively involved in the business until shortly before her death on 7th December 1749.

In 1757 John Walton died, and the factory was inherited by his brothers Thomas and Bouchier.

In 1767 Bouchier Walton contracted John Smeaton (1724 – 1792), founder of Civil Engineering and designer of the famous 3rd Eddystone lighthouse, to design new improved gunpowder mills at Waltham Abbey.

He designed new water driven “Edge Runner Mills” replacing the existing “Stamp Mills” to give a much more consistent gunpowder grain which improved the effectiveness and reliability of the powder.
Smeaton also recommended improvements to the Lee navigation to the government of the day, allowing barges to sale from Hertford to the Thames at Limehouse.

In the wake of the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, (1756 – 1763) the Waltham Abbey gunpowder factory was becoming an increasingly important asset for the British Army. The British government began nationalising gunpowder mills in 1759, when it purchased the Faversham Mills.

Nationalisation of the Gunpowder Mills

Major William Congreve (later Sir William Congreve, 1st Baronet) was a military officer appointed Deputy Comptroller of the Woolwich Royal Laboratory in 1783.

He urged the government to acquire the Waltham Abby Mills from the Walton family, The crown eventually purchased the mills in 1787. Subsequently a 3rd mill at Ballincollig, Ireland was acquired as the final nationalised Gunpowder Mill.
In 1788 Congreve was appointed superintendent of Military Machines. He worked out of and lived with his family at the Woolwich Royal Laboratory.

Wiliam Congreve oversaw major improvements in the manufacturing processes & material controls of gunpowder manufacture as well as introducing safety improvements.
He served with distinction in the American revolutionary war, being wounded at Long Island and fought in the French Revolutionary Campaigns of 1794.

Whilst living at Woolwich, one of his children, also named William, had the opportunity to observe the training of artillery men and to study their equipment. He also gained an interest in rockets from the numerous pageants involving firework displays involving rockets. Educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School, Royal Academy Woolwich & Trinity College Cambridge (MA Law 1793), William Congreve the younger became an inventor, publisher, industrialist and parliamentarian, eventually succeeding his father as the 2nd Baronet upon his father’s death in 1814.

Congreve Rockets

In 1804, William Congreve the younger started his investigation of the powers of the rocket at his own expense. The results from these experiments were promising enough to allow him to obtain permission to move his experiments to the Royal Laboratory facilities at Woolwich, England, where he was to carry out the remainder of his experiments in the next 20 years. The fact that William Congreve’s father was the superintendent at Woolwich at this time perhaps facilitated the move. Congreve also enjoyed the friendship of the Prince Regent (later to become King George IV) serving as an equerry from 1811.

Although Congreve rockets were not very accurate, they were effective against buildings and towns, causing immense conflagrations, and they also wrought fear in the hearts of soldiers and civilians alike as they hissed overhead. They were successfully used in the Napoleonic Wars (1799 - 1815), including the Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815, and in the siege of Fort McHenry in 1814, as part of the War of 1812. The Congreve rocket was immortalised by a lawyer and poet, Francis Scott Key who witnessed the siege of Fort McHenry and subsequently penned to words of the Star-Spangled Banner, incorporating the line “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air”, which subsequently became the American National Anthem.

Other Notable Scientist Associated with the Waltham Abbey Gunpowder Mills

As well as the Waltons, Smeaton and both Congreves, several famous scientists have been ssociated with the Walthem Abbey Gunpowder Mills over the years.

Michael Farraday was Professor of Chemsitry at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich between 1830 and 1851. During that time he conducted a number of investigations at the Gunpowder Mills, in particular recommending improvements to the lightening protection at the site.

Farrady was succeded by Sir Frederick Abel when he was appointed lecturere in Chemistry at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in 1852.

One of the most important of his investigations had to do with the manufacture of guncotton, and he developed a process, consisting essentially of reducing the nitrated cotton to fine pulp, which enabled it to be safely manufactured and at the same time yielded the product in a form that increased its usefulness. This work prepared the way for the "smokeless powders" which came into general use towards the end of the 19th century. Cordite was invented jointly by Abel and Sir James Dewar at Waltham Abbey Gunpowder Mills; patented in 1889; and adopted by the British government in 1891.

Shortly before the start of WW2 a new very powerful and less sensitive explosive was researched known as RDX (Research or Royal Development eXplosive). The precise formulation of RDX used by Barnes Wallis for the famous “Bouncing Bomb” was developed and tested underwater at the Waltham Abbey site, in what is known as Newton’s Pool.

Much more could be written on the work of these people at the Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills, but that will have to wait for a future article – or articles!

Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills Heritage Site

When the Government Research facility formally closed in 1991, the site was surveyed by English Heritage and declared a ‘Scheduled Ancient Monument ‘.

An Operating Company set up to maintain and run the site as a national interpretive centre and visitor attraction.
The site re-opened in 2001 enabling the public to visit the many historic listed buildings; canals and waterways; and learn about the history of gunpowder and energetic materials developed on this site.

The site was severely impacted by the Covid pandemic closing to visitors for a period of time and only started to recover through 2023 and 2024. With a small number of permanent staff and just over 70 volunteers, the site continues to operate but is currently only open to the general public on 2 Sundays each month. Education visits, private group visits and hire-out of facilities to private organisations continues at other time. Parts of the site are frequently hired by film and TV crews who use the site and its historic buildings as backdrop for their programmes.
If you wish to find out more about the Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills or to arrange to visit, individually or as a private group, then please visit the web site at:
https://www.royalgunpowdermills.com/

Acknowledgments:

Much of the material for this article has been sourced from the Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills (WARGM) Digital Archive, freely accessible to all via the WARGM web site.