Building record TR 06 SW 1506 - Cylinder House, Marsh Gunpowder Works

Cyclinder House, presumably for production for cylinder charcoal. A building has been in this location since 1790. (1)

Cylinder house at Marsh Gunpowder Works constructed by 1920 and shown on a plan of the works by Nobels Explosives Co. Ltd in 1920 as building 48. A survey as part of the RCHME Favrsham's Explosives Industry Project in 1991 found the building to be extant. (Building 17 - RCHME ground photography negative reference 164/H/1). The building was of a single storey, rectangular in plan, measuring 30.3 metres by 25.8 metres. It was brick built with side walls 4.5 metres in height and comprised a double shed with gables to either end. The roof was of iron consisting `I' section rafters, cast iron compression members with possible wrought iron tie rods. It had been covered by modern corrugated metal sheeting. In the northeast half of the building impressions of the cylinder bases were seen in the floor. Details of the charcoal burning retorts which occupied the building are preserved on a Nobel Industries drawing of 1925. At the time of survey the building was occupied by a car dismantler. (1-3)

Historic England archive material: 662290 Faversham Explosives Industry, Kent In 1991, RCHME Keele carried out a basic investigation of the remains of the gunpowder and explosives industry in Faversham as a background to the Oare Gunpowder Works survey and to enhance the NMR record.Contents : 4 plans, ground photography, 68 prints, supporting materialCondition : SATISFACTORY
943688 Marsh Gunpowder Works/ink survey Antiquity Model: Surveyed

<1> Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd, 2019, Historic Building Recording of the Marsh Gunpowder Works within the Former Oare Mineral Works, Faversham, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE54278.

<2> 1992, KAR 108, 1992, p 190 (Article in serial). SKE54237.