The Armoury moves to Enfield

 

The production of armour at the Armoury Mill on the Ravensbourne in the Tudor and early Stuart periods, which I wrote about last week, is only the beginning of what is going to be a very long story. This is the site today of flats called ‘The Silk Works’.

 

By the time of the Civil War in the 1640s the making of posh armour in Greenwich had already run its course. Much of the equipment had disappeared or had been taken to the workshops in the Tower of London. Throughout the 1640s there seems to have been a whole succession of confusing ownerships and uses of the mill. It appears that there was also a corn mill on the site which may have been working at the same time as metal was being ground there for armour. A survey in 1660 said that the mill was destroyed or converted to other uses but by 1684 military equipment was once again being produced there. This work was done in conjunction with the armoury at the Tower.  In the same period the land around the mill passed into the ownership of Morden College although the mill itself still remained in the ownership of the Board of Ordnance.

 

In the early 18^th Century it’s still unclear exactly what was done at the old Armoury Mill. In the 1720s tools for the building of roads in Scotland were produced.  The site was later sold and under a Thomas Hollyer from 1730 bayonets for an expedition to Virginia and other items were made. However

A report from 1754 said that the mills, shops and foundry were ruinous.

 

In the 1750s the site was but taken over by a Richard Hornbuckle who was primarily working the cornmill but he had also agreed with the Board of Ordnance to produce bayonets, and other items of military use. In the 1780s it passed to a Jonathan Henham. He was a gun maker he had submitted a plan for screwless flintlock to the Board of Ordinance and these were then manufactured at the Armoury Mill. In addition he also produced a whole range of gun barrels, pole axes and muskets. He remained at the mill until 1806 although it appears the mill was not being used then and it is again reported to be ruinous.

 

By the beginning of the 19th Century it became apparent that the manufacture of military small arms was in crisis as many skilled gun makers had left England and gone to America or mainland Europe. Therefore it was this decided to open a new small arms facility managed by officials based in the Tower of London. At first it was uses to assemble gun parts received from the Birmingham proof house but gradually the quantity of fire alarms made increased and it soon became clear that the Tower was too small for the volume of work needed.

 

In 1807 it was suggested that the old Armoury Mill in Lewisham should become a purpose-built small arms factory to make gun blocks and barrels. The old mill was demolished and a new factory was built on the site. This included workshops, storehouses, grinding mills, a proof house and housing for the foremen with six cottages for workers.  As building work began it was suggested that a second mill should be added for grinding. John Rennie, the pre-eminent engineer, was called in to help with the design and structures.

 

In 1808 production at the new Lewisham factory encountered a major problem with flooding on the river and it appeared there were problems with the volume of the flow of water in the Ravensbourne. The targets for production had to be changed along with the pattern of manufacture.  It was decided to supplement the water wheels with a team engine made by Blackfriars based engineers, Lloyd and Ostell. It was seen as important to get navigational access from the Thames and flood damage to Deptford Bridge appeared to make this a possibility. However when proposals were made a dispute arose over the plans which involved with the Kent County Surveyor – who no doubt thought the turnpike road was more important. This work did not proceed.

 

Problems with the Ravensbourne continued but the site continued to be expanded when land was bought from Morden College and houses and cottages were built for the foremen and workmen. The house which John Colgate, the superintendent, lived in had eight rooms, cellar, washhouse and garden – and he was very reluctant to go to Enfield and leave it. The foremen’s houses had four rooms, two cellars and an outhouse.  In 1810 there were 156 workers on site at Lewisham, which probably included some women. Around this time the workshops in the Tower were transferred to Lewisham in order to assemble Brown Bess muskets and additional machinery was also installed.

 

New workers on site caused complaints when they bought a bull which was intended for a bull baiting session.  Complaints went to the local Justices of the Peace who intervened and it was thought the incident related to the employment of men (described as ‘roughs’) transferred from Birmingham and that it was them who had caused the problems.

 

Problems with the flow of water in the Ravensbourne continued and it was gradually realised that the site would not be able to cope with the demands of production.  The Board of Ordnance began to look at a site at Cheshunt where the water flow was better but it was eventually decided to use a site at Enfield Lock where the fall of water was a very satisfactory - 11 feet - and it was also far enough from the Government’s explosives site at Waltham Abbey not to cause problems.

 

So I am afraid that this story is going to have to move from the Royal Small Arms factory in Lewisham to the more famous site in Enfield. Most people will have heard of the Lee-Enfield Rifle if nothing else and only very vaguely.  I’ve always liked the Enfield site and just a couple years ago I found myself walking around the lock on the Navigation and the Swan and Pike Pool – and it was very, very pleasant - despite the remains of the arms factory is now all converted to new housing. I can remember Government Row and the Navigation when the factory was still at work and even then it was rather charming - and it’s strange to think that could all have been in Lewisham.

 

A Parliamentary Committee was appointed which expressed strong criticism of the money spent at Lewisham.  In 1807 John Rennie had thought that the flow of water from the Ravensbourne would not support the mill for the manufacture of small arms and what was expected of it.  He was brought in again to look at the flow of water at the proposed site in Enfield and he thought it very suitable. It was accessible to the Tower or London via the Lea Navigation and it was also close to the Royal Powder Mills at Waltham Abbey, which meant a considerable saving in barge traffic from and to the Tower.  Land was bought and the Swan and Pike pub briefly reopened (in 1916 it would be the first pub in the country to be nationalised although it became the superintendent’s house before that).  The various property transactions were completed and charge of the site was given to Woolwich educated Captain John By.

 

Gradually the Small Arms factory at Enfield began to take shape but work slowed down as the Napoleonic wars ended along with the demand for guns. However equipment continued to be moved to Enfield from Lewisham.  Soon cottages and foremen’s houses were ready for occupation and the first group of workers was ready to come from Lewisham to occupy them.  First to go would be the welders and superintendent John Colgate was told to explain to them their new housing conditions and make preparations for their move.  On the 24th of April 1816 two barges from the Waltham Abbey works were sent to Deptford Creek Wharf to bring the men with their furniture, families and tools to Enfield. They all got paid extra for this day although of course they weren’t working. Travel by barge sounds a good way to go – although I’m not so sure about the Thames crossing. I assume they went up the Lea and I hope it was a bright spring day. Even today the Lea is a beautiful river – yes, even Hackney and Tottenham.

 

By the middle of May the Lewisham welders were at work in Enfield and a second contingent arrived at the end of the month with the remaining barrel making machinery – which took two journeys to complete. A sword making department was set up in 1823.

 

However by December 1817 136 men were still employed at Lewisham although a reduction of 88 was about the take place and gradually less and less men worked there. All of them, except for a few caretaker staff, would eventually go to Enfield or lose their jobs.The final order for work to be done at Lewisham came in as late as October 1818.   The last men to go were from the locks and finishing sections - including Benjamin Briscoe who had worked there since 1810 and was the only man who could make tumbling locks for rifles. Everyone else lost their jobs. It was 1822 before the last Royal Ordinance staff left Lewisham and by then the site had been sold.

 

This is not the place here to write about the works at Enfield and the wonders of the Royal Small Arms factory and those Enfield Rifles.   I have used much of the material above from a book by Enfield historian David Pam about the Small Arms Factory and its workers – and I would very much recommend it to anyone interested

Briefly - by 1860 the factory was producing 1,744 rifles a week and by 1887 there were 16 steam engines running massed production lines using American machinery which employed 2,400 people.  This is seen as a breakthrough in mass-production techniques. The Lee-Enfield Rifle, the Bren light machine gun and the Sten sub-machine gun were all designed or produced Enfield.  It played a huge role in supplying arms in the two World Wars.  The Pattern Room held a master set, of  every weapon made at Enfield and this collection is now in the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds. The Enfield Factory was privatised in 1984 to become part of Royal Ordnance Plc; and was later bought by British Aerospace. It eventually closed in 1988.

The area around the factory is known as Enfield Lock and indeed there is still a working lock on the Lea Navigation here.  Around the Small Arms Factory a self-contained community grew up with its own housing, school, church, police station and hotel. It was designated as a conservation area in 1976. Redevelopment in the 21stCentury has proceeded on the factory site to become Enfield Island Village. The main Machine Shop is now a business centre and there are many other features from the old factory preserved around the site. For starters - you enter the ‘Village’ by via a bridge over the Navigation and right in front of you is a magnificent water tower.

 

Of course there are several books about this amazing site as well as websites. Several of them describe how it has been transformed from a factory to a housing estate. I very much recommend a visit to the Island Village and Enfield Lock. You can walk round the Lock and Swan and Pike Pool. If you go far enough down the footpath on the east bank you come to the magnificent and very, very amazing George  V fifth pumping station serving the vast reservoirs which lie to the south of Enfield on the Lea. When you get back to the bridge crossing the Navigation there are two pubs - built for the arms workers, and subsequently the first pubs ever nationalised.

 

Just go and think – all of this would have been in Lewisham if there had been more water in the Ravensbourne

 

So next time we need to find out as to why it is now called ‘The Silk Works’. In 1807 John Rennie had thought that the flow of water from the Ravensbourne would not support the mill for the manufacture of small arms and what was expected of it.