Gunpowder factory, Cornaa, Isle of Man

Cornaa is on the north west coast of the Isle of Man between Ramsey and Laxey. The road down is fairly long, small and winding. Altogether quite isolated which was once the reason for this factory. Building started in 1890 and the site was chosen as UK law prohibited a similar industrial operation in the UK. Once local people realised what was happening the project was stopped and as such a roof was never added. The trees now mask the site from the air and what you get are

1. Massive concrete walls and a solid floor plan.
2. What looks similar to a mill race but presumable this was to remove industrial effluent.
3. The rooms are relatively straightforward but at the back is an unusual concrete dias, really oval shaped and no idea what this was for.

There are no access restrictions that I could see.




and here is that strange dias





We met some local lads who said that it was once an abattoir...this seemed unlikely as access was restricted with a narrow valley and small road. We had no idea what it could have been until we returned home and could google it.

More images here

Interesting that.Gunpowder mills and stores were built with substantial walls and flimsy roofs,the idea being if there was a bit of a whoopsy the blast would be directed upwards rather than outwards.There were several gunpowder factories in England,certainly one at Faversham in Kent and the Royal Gunpowder Mill at Waltham Abbey

http://www.royalgunpowdermills.com/history-heritage/300-years-history/

One at Langdale in the Lake District.

Your forgetting Chillworth near Guildford

There were quite a few gunpowder mills in Cornwall. In fact, they were relatively common wherever there were mines and quarries.

The Cornaa plant was actually intended to make something named Bellite, an extremely powerful explosive intended to displace dynamite. No wonder the locals objected.

As caiman states, the ruins are the remains of an unfinished factory to make Bellite, the main ingredient of which is Ammonium Nitrate. Whilst Bellite was a powerful explosive, the main reason the inventor was pushing to get production going was the fact that whilst ammonium nitrate is a relatively safe ingredient (a common fertiliser) for an explosive, with little handling problems. On the other hand the main ingredient of Dynamite is Nitro Glycerine - a rather unstable explosive in its own right and liable to detonation by shock. In the very early days it was not unknown for containers being carried on small carts to explode when jolted on a rough road. This meant that dynamite factories always nitrated the glycerine in situe - itself rather dangerous as the process involves the generation of much heat. Thus dynamite factories were always constructed adjacent to plenty of running water, bellite factories could theoretically be built anywhere.

The following may be of interest -

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/lifting-lid-on-explosive-chapter-1-6386870