Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills - Research Into Other Explosives

Research Into Other Explosives

Under the leadership of Sir Frederick Abel, both guncotton (1865), then the propellant Cordite (1889) were developed at the facility.

There was a close link with production for civil use, with chemical engineering improvements at Waltham Abbey being disseminated to private industry. All this meant that Waltham Abbey had become a leading centre of Victorian and later science and technology, but for reasons of security largely unknown to the outside world.