The site of a group of buildings, part of a belt of industrial sites located E and W of the Darenth Road on the W bank of the river Darent valley. Formed part of the gunpowder works complex. Two further buildings belonging to the same property, were located immediately opposite and described as a barn and yard. (1)

Excavations in 1999, ahead of a housing development, revealed the remains of a number of industrial buildings within the chalk pit. These included two limekilns (one flare, one draw), an underground chamber, a pipeline and possible pumphouse, two multiperiod buildings containing kilns as well as six other buildings. Historical source show that the site to have been used as a saltpetre and charcoal works for the gunpowder industry, in the late 18th and 19th century, and later for the production of smokeless powder/guncotton, gas mantles in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Finally it was used as a general purpose foundry. All buildings now demolished. (2)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1994 Jan, A2/A282 Dartford - Historic Environmental Assessment (Unpublished document). SWX6767.

<2> Archaeology South-East, 1999, Archaeological Investigations at the Foundry Site, Darenth Road, Dartford, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE12354.