Month: June 2015

17th Century · 19th Century · 20th Century · Chilworth

Chilworth Gunpowder Mills: three centuries of industry in the Surrey Hills

Caroline5 Comments

The Surrey Hills – an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – isn’t the first place that you’d associate with heavy industry.   Today, thousands of people are drawn to the picturesque hills and the lush green countryside.  However, hidden away in the valley close to the village of Chilworth, near Guildford, are the ruins of an industry that dominated the area for almost 300 years – the manufacturing of gunpowder.

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Tower Hamlets: a neglected cemetery reborn as a nature reserve
19th Century · 20th Century · Bow

Tower Hamlets: a neglected cemetery reborn as a nature reserve

Caroline10 Comments

Many of London’s big Victorian Cemeteries have suffered over the years.  Originally set up and run by private companies, many of these companies ran into financial difficulties after the Second World War, effectively abandoning cemeteries or selling them cheaply to local authorities.  As a result, these cemeteries became overgrown and vandalised.  Tower Hamlets, one of London’s “Magnificent Seven” Victorian cemeteries, was one of places that found itself derelict and unloved in the late 20th Century.  Thankfully, today all of that has changed.

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An ancient cemetery in the heart of Greenwich Park
18th Century · 19th Century · 6th Century · 7th Century · Bronze Age · Greenwich

An ancient cemetery in the heart of Greenwich Park

Caroline18 Comments

Not far from the famous Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park is a field that was once a large cemetery.  Today, all that remains are a few modest mounds that mark where the burials took place, and it’s unlikely that most people who walk past them, or sit on them, have any idea what they are.  This is perhaps not surprising, as this old burial ground is over 1,000 years old.

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