Home Front Legacy 1914-18
Claire Corkill, Chris Kolonko, 2020. https://doi.org/10.5284/1059297. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Council for British Archaeology unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 3366
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1059297
- How to cite using this DOI
Full Record - Kynochs Munitions Works (PRN: 11584)
| PRN | 11584 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site or location name | Kynochs Munitions Works | ||||
| Summary | Kynochs Explosives Factory | ||||
| Description | On the site of the current Coryton oil refinery in Corringham, there once stood a huge explosives factory called Kynoch Ltd. Employing over 4,000 people at its height during WW1, a small village was built next to the factory called Kynochtown to house the workers, which included a school, Post Office and even a cinema. Producing 120 tonnes of cordite a week, employees had to work 12 hours a day. The predominantly female workforce included some prostitutes from London, who were given the choice of prison or working for an explosives factory. Working at Kynoch was not necessarily the easier option, as the work was dangerous with accidents resulting in lost limbs and even fatalities. As it could not change its business model after the war, the Kynoch factory in Corringham closed down in 1919, less than 25 years since it first opened. Quoted from BBC Radio Programme found online “Corringham, Essex: Kynoch Explosives Factoryâ€. Kynochs produced a large majority of .303 rifle ammunition issued to British soldiers, as well as other less common calibres, which saw extensive use in the First World War. Their Essex factory was one of their largest. I, the author, managed to find several surviving remains which seem to have remained undocumented. These include concrete mounts with metal threads to raise wooden buildings and walkways above the ground, used to prevent explosives on shoes sparking on stones on the ground, and an earthwork pond survives also in the north west edge of the site. This is now a circular patch of unused farmland TQ 74182 83716. Just south east, a blastmound and brick building survives, concealed by the bushes in an overgrown patch of land lower than the raised refinery site, along Coryton refinery northern edge; TQ 74383 83554. Next to this is a concrete rectangular pit filled with water containing a circular timber rotten container or separator. Possible water or sewage works. None of these have not been recorded before and deserve attention, yet they correspond to contemporary maps. Brick square sewage works from Kynochs also survive in a wooded area much further west, close to TQ 71642 83582. “The largest munitions factory in the south of the County was at Kynoch and about 130 women from Southend were working there by mid 1915, including Catherine MacKintosh; pictured p.30, Crowe, K. 2014: Southend and the Great War, Heritage Lottery Fund. ' | ||||
| Monument Type | EXPLOSIVES FACTORY;EXPLOSIVES FACTORY | ||||
| Desgination | None | ||||
| Material | CONCRETE, BRICK | ||||
| Location | |||||
| Country | ENGLAND | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County | Coryton | ||||
| Site Location | Kynochs Munitions Works | ||||
| Postcode | |||||
| Map Reference | NGR: TQ7467782781 (574677, 182781) | ||||
| Condition/Threat | |||||
| Condition (Date) | Poor (09-08-2018) | ||||
| Threat | Encroaching development | ||||
| Signif | High | ||||
| Source | |||||
| Crowe, Ken (2014) Southend and the Great War. | |||||
| (2019) Kynoch's Explosives Factory, Stanford-le-Hope, Corringham and Fobbing. Beyond the Point. http://www.beyondthepoint.co.uk/property/kynochs-explosives-factory/ | |||||
| (2014) Corringham, Essex: Kynoch Explosives Factory (World War One at Home ). BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01x27lt | |||||
| Administration | |||||
| Recorded By (Date) | Liam Heatherson - Southend Museums (10-08-2018) | ||||
| Copiled On | 09-08-2018 | ||||
| Last Updated | 09-08-2018 | ||||
| Associated data |
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Documentation
| Image metadata | CSV | 590 Kb |
Data
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Kynochs Munitions Works (Coryton Oil Refinery, Corringham, Thurrock, Essex). Brick building surrounded by blast mound 2. (File name: 11584_1409.jpg) |
JPG | 856 Kb |
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Kynochs Munitions Works (Coryton Oil Refinery, Corringham, Thurrock, Essex). Brick building surrounded by blast mound. (File name: 11584_1408.jpg) |
JPG | 852 Kb |
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Kynochs Munitions Works (Coryton Oil Refinery, Corringham, Thurrock, Essex). Photo of concrete platforms for wooden walkways with protruding metal pins, surviving in circular patch of farmland. (File name: 11584_1411.jpg) |
JPG | 643 Kb |
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Kynochs Munitions Works (Coryton Oil Refinery, Corringham, Thurrock, Essex). Photo of water or sewage works/water vessel of some form. (File name: 11584_1410.jpg) |
JPG | 718 Kb |
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Kynochs Munitions Works (Coryton Oil Refinery, Corringham, Thurrock, Essex). Plan of original site recorded c.1919-1921 (File name: 11584_1407.jpg) |
JPG | 636 Kb |
