EPW017652 ENGLAND (1927). The Britannia Lead Works and Tower Works (Concrete Blocks) at Botany Marshes, Northfleet, 1927

For details, history and many links, see [[http://www.cementkilns.co.uk/cement_kiln_tower.html]] and

[[http://www.cementkilns.co.uk/cement_kiln_westons.html]].

Zoom in for a great view of a chamber kiln plant.

It's clear that the identities of these two sites were culled from the 1939 map. But this was taken in 1927, before the Britannia Lead Works moved to the right-hand site, which is clearly still occupied by the cement plant chamber kilns. Unfortunately, the OS maps never identified this plant - they just said "cement works". Local directories give only limited addresses: "Weston & Co, Northfleet". I call it Westons by a process of elimination, since all the other sites are fairly unambiguously identified, and also from the sequence of census returns which show Westons as the last address on the shore. Viewed in close-up, the plant, although shut down for many years, appears to be still in fairly good condition. The washmill and slurry mixer are intact as is the slurry pipework. Both the Tower Plant and the Westons Plant were acquired by APCM in 1900, and shut down fairly soon afterwards. Both obtained chalk from just east of Swanscombe.