"In April 1916, shortly before the commencement of the Battle of the Somme, a fire started in a vast munitions works located in the Kent marshes. The resulting series of explosions killed 108 people and injured many more. In a remarkable piece of storytelling, Brian Dillon recreates the events of that terrible day - and, in so doing, sheds a fresh and unexpected light on the British home front in the Great War. He offers a chilling natural history of explosives and their effects on the earth, on buildings, and on human and animal bodies. And he evokes with vivid clarity the interaction of human imperatives and the natural world in one of Britain's strangest and most distinctive landscapes - where he has been a habitual explorer for many years. The Great Explosion is a profound work of narrative, exploration and inquiry form one of our most brilliant writers." --Jacket flap.

This book comprises a national study of the explosives industry and provides a framework for identification of its industrial archaeology and social history. Few monuments of gunpowder manufacture survive in Britain from the Middle Ages, although its existence is documented. Late 17th-century water-powered works are identifiable but sparse. In the later 18th century, however, the industry was transformed by state acquisition of key factories, notably at Faversham and at Waltham Abbey.In the mid-19th century developments in Britain paralleled those in continental Europe and in America, namely a shift to production on an industrial scale related to advances in armaments technology. The urgency and large-scale demands of the two world wars brought state-directed or state-led solutions to explosives production in the 20th century. Yhe book’s concluding section looks at planning, preservation, conservation and presentation in relation to prospective future uses of these sites.

James Preston looks at the industrial heritage of garden of England. It illustrates what remains extant in what is now essentially a post-industrial era.

Early Modern Kent offers an accessible but scholarly introduction to the country's history during a century of extraordinary change."--BOOK JACKET.

This work is the first comprehensive historical and archaeological investigation into the maritime organization of the port of Faversham, Kent, SE England. The period examined is 1580-1780. Faversham, a multi-functional town, was well placed to take advantage of its maritime position in the Swale, its closeness to Canterbury, and the need to ship grain to London from this fertile crescent of North Kent. An examination of the original and early development of the port is complemented by an analysis of the ships and port administration. Unique methods of ship operation and manning are investigated, and a comprehensive survey of the shipping fleets of Kent during their formative years undertaken. This study is also concerned with analyzing the variety of mercantile responses to marketing opportunities. Apart from providing London with ever-increasing agricultural cargoes (and return cargoes of manufactured goods), Faversham developed a very healthy trade in wool, oysters, fishing, and the manufacture of gunpowder. This movement of commodities is investigated, and the inter-play between changes in production patterns assessed, while the significance of the maritime development of the port provides ample scope for pioneering a study of port logistics and organization. An examination of the origins and early developments of Faversham's maritime industry is long overdue, and the uncovering of new evidence makes it possible to unravel the complexities of this mercantile activity during Faversham 's formative years.

This entertaining and informative book tells the dramatic tale of explosives from gunpowder to the H-bomb. Laying the emphasis on the lives of the people involved, on the diverse uses of explosives and on their social and historical impact, the author relates a story of remarkable international and human endeavour. Many of those involved - Roger Bacon, Guy Fawkes, Alfred Nobel, Robert Oppenheimer - are famed worldwide; others, such as C F Schonbein, William Bickford, Sir Frederick Abel and Charles E Munroe, though less well-known, also played critical roles. Alongside their achievements, this book highlights the uses and impact of explosives in both war and terrorism, and in civil engineering, quarrying, mining, demolition, fireworks manufacture and shooting for sport. In many cases explosives are seen to have had a significant historical impact as, for example, in the early use of gunpowder in the American Civil War, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and the worldwide opening up of canals and railways.

Studies of Kent's economic history confirm the industrial revolution to have been less cataclysmic and more widespread then formerly accepted.

1/3 of the new Encyclopedic Dictionary of Pyrotechnics, which consists of more than 4000 entries (not counting cross-references), 1200 large format pages (8.5 x 11 inches), including 3000 photographs and illustrations. This is a major revision of the original Illustrated Dictionary of Pyrotechnics, originally published in 1995. In addition to many more entries, much more explanatory information has being included, with many of the entries now ranging from 1/2 to 1 (or even several) pages of text. This is a Black and White version that is fully searchable.