Monument record TQ 77 NW 124 - Tramway to Nine Elms Works from Johnson's Works, Cliffe

Tramway linking Nine Elms Cement Works (TQ 77 NW 37) at the mouth of Cliffe Creek with a chalkpit next to Johnson's Works (TQ 77 NW 122). Constructed by Frances and Co in the late 1860s. Now used as track (1).

Site photographs (2-10).

Additional information (11-12).

Francis and Co negotiated the lease of land for a tramway from the quarry to proposed cement works on Cliffe Creek in 1866 [Darnley Mss. U565 E9]. The works and presumably the tramway were in operation in 1866. There was no connection with Johnson's until the amalgamation of the firms in 1886. The tramway remained in operation after the Nine Elms works closed soon after amalgamation within APCM in 1900, presumably until the Quarryworks closed in 1920.(13)

The site is a former tramway (later a conveyor) which transported cement to a jetty in Cliffe Creek. A post medieval tramway centred at TQ 7173 7656, extending for 150m along an embanked causeway from the site of the former Johnson Cliffe Cement Works and the Nine Elms works at the mouth of Cliffe Creek. The tramway first appears as such on the 2nd Edition OS map of 1896, prior to which the embankment existed, but was marked as a trackway. By the 1939 4th edition OS map the tramway has been replaced by a conveyor running along the same causeway. The land surrounding the eastern half of the causeway has been quarried away to provide clay to the cement works, the embankment an isolated strip flanked by flooded quarry pits. This site was mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. (14-16)

<1> Barnes, B. and Innes, B., 1984, A nineteenth Century Cement Works at Cliffe (Article in serial). SWX7719.

<2> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9425.

<3> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9426.

<4> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9449.

<5> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9635.

<6> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9775.

<7> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9858.

<8> 1947, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9865.

<9> 1941, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10111.

<10> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10273.

<11> Eve, David., 1999, The Cement Industry in Kent: Results of a Sites and Monuments Record Enhancement Project 1996 - 98 (Unpublished document). SKE12011.

<12> English Heritage Monuments Protection Programme, 2001, Lime, Cement and Plaster Industries Step 4 Report (Unpublished document). SKE12174.

<13> Jim Preston Personal Communication (Verbal communication). SKE13236.

<14> 1951, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SKE58698.

<15> Ordinance Survey, 1896, Ordnance Survey: Kent Epoch 2, 1:2500 1896 (Map). SKE55862.

<16> Landmark, Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map (OS 4th Edition, 1929-1952): Landmark Epoch 4 (Map). SKE30967.