Chilworth Gunpower Mills - August 2015

Hi All

Day off so what better way to spend the day than a visit to the Gun power Mills in Chilworth surrey.
Little bit of history:-
The mills were first set up in 1629 and were in use right up until 1920 when I`m guessing Gun power went out of fashion.
Raw materials were brought in by barge but there is also an 1888 Tramway linking the site.and then mixed and milled to produce fine black power.

The site is listed and so are the buildings, its open to Joe public as there are paths running through the site.
There is an information board that tells you what you are looking at, there is also a magazine that is marked as "Inaccessible" Well I`m a member of Derelict places so that dosen`t mean anything, there`s more to this place than you think if you know where to look and get off the path.

Picture you say...
OK

First off is this WW2 road block (I`m guessing it`s here because of the river and canal crossing)



OK lets get old school, these are the big buildings that are left, they are the Charcoal mill and the incorporating mill.







The site is criss crossed with water ways, I`m guessing that Gun power like other industrial explosive processes needs lots of water, it was also used for the transport of raw and finish product.

This is a Tramway swing bridge that dates to 1888



Old Tramway rail still to be found near by



On the other side of Tilling Bourne (that`s the river) are the gun power magazines, these are earth banked types.



But there is one that is inaccessible and it`s built of concrete and has a dogleg blast entranceway.



As you walk around there are mill stones all over the place, diden`t get a good shot of these.



Well thats about it, but for one last find and it`s not listed on the information board and it`s a ball ake to get too but hell thats what we do right.
I`m thinking this is a WW1 pillbox due to it being round, but could be very wrong.



Well there you go, there are a few more pictures on my FlickR page so if you want more of the same head on over to :-
https://www.flickr.com/photos/newage2/albums/72157655328623573

All comments are most welcome so thanks for looking.

Cheers Newage

The pillbox looks too thick walled to be WW1, but it's definitely unusual.

Not sure about this one but gunpowder mills often stayed using water power even when other technologies came along, no sources of sparks from water power...

I love a good mill, thanks for posting.

You got some cracking images Newage, I enjoyed it, Thanks

To the west of the site (Now demolished was a steam powered incorporating mill) and to the East was a boiler house.
I was thinking that maybe the pill box was built when the road block was built.

But all the info boards and interweb gumph says the site closed in 1920.

Cheers Newage

Having investigated a little they're "Mowlem Drum" type pillboxes.

Surrey's Mowlem Type 24 Drum | The Pillbox Study Group Website.

Krela you are a top bloke, when were they built, WW2 I'm guessing.

Cheers newage

Yes as part of GHQ Line B. They're a type24 variant.

Lived just down the road from Chilworth for a few years, right under my nose and never knew. Funny, we spend hours looking for locations and often miss whats in our back yard. Interesting stuff there indeed. Than you.

Have walked round here a couple of times, nice and shady on a sunny day. Have not seen the pill box so thanks for the info.

Interesting post and nice shots.

Some really interesting bits! Thanks for sharing

Nice looking site and very interesting,Great shots.

Hey mate !! Had a quick look around here a few years ago but missed quite a bit. Good report - pic 2 is a whoppa !! Mowlem drum pillboxes are aplenty in this area. I have photo'd a few now but there's still more to go back for !! There is another similar road block not far from Shalford stn on a main road. I'm sure its listed on D/O/B. The whole area is a great explore, especially if youre into WW11 concrete !

WW11 f*** me when did I miss the other 8 world wars ?
There are a few bits I want to go back to see.

Cheers newage