Building record TR 06 SW 1509 - Possible Corning House, Marsh Gunpowder Works

The site and remains of a possible Corning House, 'where the pressed cake of gunpowder would have been broken down into smaller grains and sieved into various grades'. The building was in existance by 1877, and had possibly been there since 1790. (1)

Corning house at the Marsh Gunpowder Works constructed during reconstruction of the works in 1926. A survey as part of the RCHME Faversham's Explosives Industry in 1991 found the building to be in ruins. (Building 11 - RCHME ground photography negative reference 164/K/21-22). The building was represented by a single concrete wall 14.7 metres in length, 1 metre in width and approximately 6.4 metres in height. It was pierced by a number of square holes, lined with tile and covered by a cement skin. Some of the holes had been blocked. The wall was similar to a wall inserted into the corning house at the Oare Works (TR 06 SW 65). Using the evidence of the position of the holes from these two walls, it appeared that the engine compartments were on the south west side and the corning machinery on the opposite side. (1-2)

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2019, Historic Building Recording of the Marsh Gunpowder Works within the Former Oare Mineral Works, Faversham, Kent (Unpublished document).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.