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Summary

The first viable high explosives factory in Cornwall, developed by the Hungarian Otto Guttmann.

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument: National Explosives

Other References/Statuses

• National Mapping Programme (Morph No.): 349.1.1
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 37085
• Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey North Cornwall: 52055
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SW53NE 69

Monument Type(s):

• EXPLOSIVES FACTORY (19th Century - 1801 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

A Post Medieval explosives factory at Upton Towans, Hayle. The factory is depicted on the c1907 2nd ed OS map (3). The factory of the National Explosives Company, it had been set up by the Kennall Gunpowder Company in 1889 following two years of planning and was one of the most successful independent explosives manufacturers in the country. The factory was designed to produce dynamite, but in 1894 the plant was the first commercial firm to be contracted by the government to produce Cordite (1). The factory also produced gelignite and guncotton (2).

The factory was designed to a continental plan by the prominent Hungarian engineer Oscar Guttmann, and the buildings were either dug into the sand dunes or were divided by sand traverses. The area to the rear of the dunes was levelled to form the central services area of the factory, which housed steam raising facilities, air compressors, and pumps to extract water. This area also contained large acid handling plants. The factory was served by its own tramway and electricity supply. At odds with normal British practice, the factory was divided into ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ parts. The ‘wet’ part was where nitroglycerine was manufactured, purified, and stored, whilst the ‘dry’ was where this was converted into marketable explosives. This was at odds to normal British practice (1-2). Much of the machinery of the factory was supplied by Holmans of Camborne and the Tuckingmill Foundry, Hendersons of Truro undertook the surveying, and Julians of Truro the actual erection of the buildings (1). The remains of the factory contain the earliest known surviving concrete magazines, following the 1890 directive that made these a necessity for licensing (2). Following explosive expansion in WWI, the National Explosives Company was bought out by the Nobel Group in 1920, and the factory closed as a result of financial difficulties brought on by overproduction (1).

Following closure in 1920 the machinery was removed and over the succeeding years many of the permanent buildings were demolished. In 1991 it was recorded that the sulphuric acid works and other buildings to the east were destroyed by development in the C20, and that revegetation and decay had obscured much of the services and acid factory. The danger area amongst the dunes, however, remained little changed (1).

The site was visited in 1994 for the RCHME Dangerous Energy Project and photographs taken (2).

The site was surveyed in 1998, and an inventory of surviving features produced along with management recommendations (4). Building recording was subsequently undertaken as part of the recommended demolition and maintenance work on structures on the site (5).

The remains of the factory are visible in aerial photographs and were recorded by the NMP (6-10). Many of these features remain visible in modern satellite imagery (2019), and are also particularly visible in LiDAR (11).

<1> Earl, B & Smith, JR, 1991, National Explosives, Upton Towans, Hayle: an archaeological and historical assessment (Report). SCO762.

<2> Cocroft, WD, 2000, Dangerous Energy: The archaeology of gunpowder and military explosives manufacture, 103, 144-146, 276 (Bibliographic reference). SCO31771.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1900s, 2nd Edition 6 Inch Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4051.

<4> Jones, A, 1998, Upton and Gwithian Towans - An Archaeological Assessment (Report). SCO1345.

<5> Jones, A, 1999, Upton and Gwithian Towans - Structural Recording Work (Report). SCO1346.

<6> RAF, 1946, 3G/TUD/209/5019 (Photographic Record). SCO10840.

<7> RAF, 1946, 3G/TUD/209/5142-5151 (Photographic Record). SCO10891.

<8> NMR, 1968, MAL 52/68/207-216 (Photographic Record). SCO14881.

<9> CUC, 1976, RC8/BK/194-197 (Photographic Record). SCO15846.

<10> CAU, 1989, F21/116 (Photographic Record). SCO17881.

<11> Channel Coastal Observatory, 2004, Channel Coastal Observatory Lidar (Survey). SCO29159.

<12> Earl, B, 1978, Cornish Explosives (Article in Serial). SCO3298.

<14> 1921, The West Briton, 28/4/1921 (Article in newspaper). SCO7074.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• ECO168 - Upton and Gwithian Towans
• ECO1758 - Hayle Explosives
• ECO1798 - Upton Towans WB
• ECO221 - Upton Towans - the Structures
• ECO6875 - Dangerous Energy Project (Ref: RCH01/043)
• ECO1658 - Upton Towans

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