Monument record TR 06 SW 250 - Lower and Bennetts Mills, Faversham

One of four groups of mills, collectively known as the Home Works gunpowder mills, in and around Faversham (See TR 06 SW 45, 247 – 250) and purchased by the Crown 1760. A late 18th century plan (BB95/11938 PRO) and 19th century Ordnance Survey maps shown a series of interconnecting leats and streams enabling the movement of gunpowder by punt around the site, and to provide power for the gunpowder mills. The mill buildings were concentrated at the eastern edge of the site (TR0127261576). Gunpowder production in Faversham ended in the early 20th century between 1919 and 1934. Today the mill buildings have been demolished and the leats covered over and the land used as allotment plots. The main pond and connecting stream surviving, along with a couple of houses, and due to the light horticultural use of the site, may preserve buried archaeological features. (11 & 20).

Lower and Bennetts Mills is one of four gunpowder mills situated close to Faversham town centre, which were collectively known as the Home Works. The site was included in the RCHME Faversham's Explosive Industry in 1991 and included remains northeast of West Street in the Stonebridge Pond area. The Stonebridge Pond consisted a complicated interconnecting leat system, the present plan of which although slightly modified was in existence by 1806. The leats were created to enable gunpowder to be moved around by punt and also to power a group of mills that formerly existed to the east of the area. The works complex in this area reached its maximum extent in the early nineteenth century when it also included the land north of Brent Road, now occupied by light industry (TR 014616). The Stonebridge Pond was surrounded by the brick boundary wall of the gunpowder works on its west and north sides. Most the area is now given over to allotment gardens. The mills at the east end of the site were depicted on all the available nineteenth century mapping, and were water powered. The sites of the mills (TR 01296158) lie outside the area of the allotment gardens in an area of unmanaged scrub. In common with the other sites of buildings within this area, the lack of later buildings and the light gardening use the land has been put to may have ensured the survival of buried archaeological remains.

A number of buildings relating to the works survive in around the
pond area. Stonebridge Lodge (RCHME ground photography negative reference 164/H/5) West Street is a single storey, rendered brick building with a tiled roof. It was shown in 1806 as a watch house. Within the allotments is a single storey brick building with a tiled roof (TR 0121561597), this too was probably a watch house. Other surviving buildings associated with these works include Brent Hill Cottages probably built during the late nineteenth century and the large Georgian house "The Lawns" (TR 0123561745). (1-4)

Documented. There is an extensive system of leats to the west of the main site which provided power and actd as a means of communication.18th century cartographic evidence shows water-powered incororating mills and a number of horse-driven mills. This area is likely to contain the best surviving stratigraphy in the Home Works, with possible evidence of innovation after the 1760 nationalisation of the works. (5)

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

The Cranstone Consultancy, 1993, Monuments Protection Programme: The Gunpowder Industry Combined Steps 1-3 Report (Unpublished document). SKE17244.

English Heritage Monuments Protection Programme, 1998, Monuments Protection Programme: Gunpowder Industry (Unpublished document). SKE7298.

<1> Wayne Cocroft/18-NOV-1991/RCHME: Faversham's Explosives Industry. (OS Card Reference). SKE51278.

<2> OS 25" 1907 (OS Card Reference). SKE48258.

<3> Arch J 126 1969 252 (A J Percival) (OS Card Reference). SKE36554.

<4> KAR 20 1970 4-7 photo (A Percival) (OS Card Reference). SKE45259.

<5> KAR 33 1973 89-92 (A H Osborne) (OS Card Reference). SKE45302.

<6> Industrial Arch 1976 220 (K Hudson) (OS Card Reference). SKE44291.

<7> Industrial Arch of SE England 1978 40 photo (A J Haselfoot) (OS Card Reference). SKE44295.

<8> National Trust Guide to our Industrial Past 1983 207 (A Burton) (OS Card Reference). SKE47519.

<9> DOE SAM Record Form 3 Nov 1986 Record Map 22 Nov 1972 (OS Card Reference). SKE40802.

<10> Crocker, G. 1988. Gunpowder Mills Gazetteer SPAB (OS Card Reference). SKE39493.

<11> RCHME/NMR, 1996, RCHME : Faversham Explosives Industry (Collection). SKE6479.

<12> West, J. 1991. Gunpowder, Government and War in the mid-eighteenth century. The Royal Historical So (OS Card Reference). SKE51315.

<13> Selkirk, A. 1967. The Faversham Gunpowder Mills. Current Archaeology 2 51-2 (OS Card Reference). SKE49436.

<14> Public Record Office MPH/857 Plan of the Gunpowder Manufactory at Faversham 1806. (OS Card Reference). SKE48902.

<15> Public Record Office W055/2466 PFNFP 58 Plan of the Gunpowder Manufactory at Faversham 1821 (OS Card Reference). SKE48903.

<16> London, Chatham and North Kent Railway 1846 Plan of the Gunpowder Works. (OS Card Reference). SKE46175.

<17> Eve, D., 1999, A guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Kent (Monograph). SWX9293.

<18> Bennett, C. E., 1977, The watermills of Kent, east of the Medway (Article in serial). SWX7608.

<19> WHITE HOUSE (TR0044 6114) LOWER ROAD, FAVERSHAM. FORMER GUNPOWDER MILLMANS HOUSE. Types: HOUSE (Photograph). SKE838.

<20> English Heritage, 1998, Monuments Protection Programme: Gunpowder Industry (Unpublished document). SWX6799.

<21> Royal Air Force, 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9548.