DANGEROUS ENERGY

The archaeology of gunpowder and military explosive manufacture. 'This comprehensive national study for the explosives industry provides a framework for identification of its industrial archaeology and social history. It gives a foundation for specific local investigations and a basis for international comparison. Very few monuments survive of gunpowder manufacture in Britain from the Middle Ages, although its existence is clearly documented. Remains of the water-powered works established by the late 17th Century are identifiable, although usually only from the pattern of the site layout they bequeath to later developments in the same locations. The industry was transformed in the later 18th Century by state acquisition of key factories, notably at Faversham and at Waltham Abbey, used as much for technical information and quality control as for increased production capacity. In the mid-19th Century there were developments that have parallels in continental Europe and in America, namely a shift to production on an industrial scale related to advances in armaments technology. In the late 19th Century the growth of the chemical explosives industry, which largely superseded gunpowder, is excellently demonstrated by archaeological fieldwork at Waltham Abbey. And the scope of the study is broadened by consideration of the remains of contemporary factories, both state-run and private. In the 20th Century the urgency and large-scale demands of the two world wars brought state-directed or state-led solutions to explosives production. The technology of manufacture and handling influenced the form of the architecture of the factories; their locations became a matter of conscious, strategic choice and was related to integrated supply and transport networks, the availability of labour, and safety. The social history of the explosives industry is more evident in wartime conditions, with provisions for the employment of women, for accident prevention, and for off-site housing, all of which are reflectied in surviving field remains as well as in contemporary images. Sites and structures connected with rocket propellants, which after 150 years of intermittent development came to the fore after the Second World War, are discussed in separate chapter. A concluding section looks at planning, preservation, conservation and presentation in relation to prospective future uses of these sites. Now out-of-print and limited stock available.