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62-467: A gunpowder magazine is a magazine (building) designed to store the explosive gunpowder in wooden barrels for safety. Gunpowder, until superseded, was a universal explosive used in the military and for civil engineering : both applications required storage magazines. Most magazines were purely functional and tended to be in remote and secure locations. They are the successor to the earlier powder towers and powder houses . Historic magazines were at

124-577: A Scheduled Ancient Monument and now houses the Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre, a vast collection of local and military memorabilia open to the public. According to English Heritage , it represents (along with the magazine at Priddy's Hard in Gosport ) "the most outstanding example of a typically British type of magazine, with twin barrel vaults, that relates to a critical period in Britain's growth as

186-771: A railway ). Still more magazines were built close by at Lodge Hill, from 1898, primarily for storing the recently developed explosive cordite . Upnor , Chattenden and Lodge Hill depots remained in military ownership until the mid-2010s, when the MOD marketed the land for housing and commercial use. Gunpowder magazines still survive at the Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills , including its Grand Magazine, first constructed in 1804 and rebuilt in 1867–68. The former Ordnance Depot at Weedon Bec includes four magazines dating from 1806 to 1810, along with another built in 1857. The magazines stand in their own compound apart from

248-558: A landmark for the many walkers of the ancient Roman road Peddars Way ; it is said that a secret passageway led from the house to the coast. In 1668, following the Dutch Raid on the Medway , Upnor Castle was reassigned from serving as an artillery fort to be 'a Place of Store and Magazine'. Thenceforward, barrels of gunpowder were transferred to Upnor, primarily from the Tower of London . The castle

310-615: A mixture of various types of missiles: surface-to-air missiles , antisubmarine missiles such as the ASROC missile , and anti-ship missiles such as the Harpoon missile . See especially the Oliver Hazard Perry -class frigates , owned by several different navies around the world, in which one 40-missile magazine carries a mixture of all three types of missiles: surface-to-air, surface-to-surface, and surface-to-underwater. In aircraft carriers ,

372-508: A naval power in the decades after the Seven Years' War." Inside, a good number of original features have survived, including some unique wooden overhead cranes, early forerunners of the gantry crane . A sizeable magazine stands in the unexpected surroundings of London's Hyde Park . Opened by the Board of Ordnance in 1805, its structure is similar to other British magazines of this period except for

434-560: A number of gunpowder magazines in Malta during their rule of the islands . Until the end of the sixteenth century, echauguettes were used to store gunpowder. The Order also built a magazine in Valletta , but this exploded in 1634, killing 22 people. After the explosion, a new magazine was built in Floriana , which was sparsely populated, to avoid another disaster. Various other magazines were built over

496-433: A pit, or natural declivity, or surrounded by sandbags or earthworks . Circumstances might require the establishment of multiple field magazines so that one lucky hit or accident would not disable the entire battery. The ammunition storage area aboard a warship is referred to as a magazine or the "ship's magazine" by sailors. Historically, when artillery was fired with gunpowder , a warship's magazines were built below

558-544: A series of other buildings specifically designed for particular uses. From the start, the site was fully integrated with the adjacent St Budeaux Royal Powder Works on Kinterbury Creek (established in 1805), where damaged powder was treated before being passed on to Bull Point for storage. The buildings are mostly still in place within the MOD Bull Point RNAD site: all of one style, mostly ashlar with rock-faced dressings, they are said by English Heritage to comprise "both

620-560: A site at Keyham Point (just north of Morice Yard) in 1775; but with that land required for an expansion of the Dockyard in the mid-19th century a new site was acquired further to the north, at Bull Point. A magazine of 1744 survives in situ at Morice Yard (which today forms part of HMNB Devonport ). Built to replace the earlier small magazine, which stood at the centre of the site, this is Britain's oldest surviving naval ordnance magazine. The Royal Navy Ordnance Base (later RNAD ) Bull Point

682-583: A stone wall. Along with Purfleet and Tilbury it is one of the few surviving eighteenth-century gunpowder magazines in the country. Brean Down Fort was one of a number of Palmerston Forts built to defend the British, Irish and Channel Island coastlines. It was originally built in stages between 1862 and 1870; to protect the Bristol Channel . It had a large, underground, main gunpowder magazine, 15-foot (4.5 m) by 18-foot (5.5 m) by 20-foot (6.1 m) high, built to

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744-593: Is a town in the Karoo region of South Africa's Northern Cape province. It is located in the Karoo Hoogland Local Municipality . The town has some of the coldest winters in South Africa. The nearest towns are Williston , Sutherland , Loxton and Leeu-Gamka , all of which are more than 100 km distant. A particularly good example of a corbelled house can be found in the town, there are others in

806-581: Is now home to Marchwood Yacht Club). None of the other magazines has survived, mainly due to the damage that was sustained across the site during The Blitz . The depot closed in 1961; the site is now primarily a residential area. Magazine Cottage in Sedgeford was built during the 17th century by the Le Strange Family as a gunpowder store during the English Civil War . It is now a residential house and

868-565: The Explosion! Museum of Naval Firepower . In the 1780s the Duke of Richmond , Master General of the Ordnance , began to implement a policy of dividing gunpowder stored at the principal coastal locations, and storing it across several sites in the vicinity (to make it less vulnerable to a targeted attack). At Portsmouth, this led to the building of a new magazine at Tipner Point in 1796–8. A second magazine

930-449: The Harpoon missile and the Exocet missile . Naval magazines face considerable risk of detonation , especially in cases of attack, accident, or fire. Such detonations have sunk many warships and caused many other incidents. Battleships were highly armored to protect from external attack, but the strength of the construction aids to constrict and worsen the impact of internal explosions, as

992-465: The Permian Period , most notable of which is a very well preserved Bradysaurus footprint. Since then a number of fossilised remains of other pre-dinosaur creatures such as Pareiasaurs , Dinocephalians , and Therapsids have been discovered in an area regarded as one of the best paleontological sites in South Africa. Fossils of some of the following Permian period reptiles have been found in

1054-588: The Serpentine Sackler Gallery . In Plymouth the Board of Ordnance set up Powder Magazines to serve the fleet and defences of Devonport Dockyard initially at the Royal Citadel (later supplemented by a small magazine at the New Gun Wharf (Morice Yard) in 1720); but space was limited and people were living close by, so the Board sought a new, more isolated spot for its Magazines. They first settled on

1116-536: The 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor , the USS ; Arizona was destroyed when a Japanese armor-piercing bomb punched through her deck and detonated in proximity to the ship's ammunition magazine, which was caught on film. The magazines of the Japanese battleship Yamato exploded in 1945 after hours of continuous assault by Allied aircraft, utterly destroying the ship and leaving few survivors. Fraserburg Fraserburg

1178-673: The Kruithuis in Den Bosch (the oldest, built in 1618–1620) and one in Wierickerschans . Gunpowder magazines were called Bārūt-Khāneh ( Persian : باروتخانه , or باروطخانه ) in Persia (Iran). Gunpowder Manufacturing of Yusef Abad ( باروت سازی یوسف آباد ), and later the Gunpowder Magazine of Tehran ( باروتخانه تهران Bārūt-Khāneh-ye Tehrān ), was a gunpowder magazine near Tehran which

1240-508: The River Thames. Two sizeable magazines of 1716 remain in place at Tilbury. Purfleet Royal Gunpowder Magazine was established by Act of Parliament in 1760, built to the design of James Gabriel Montresor and opened in 1765, with a garrison in place to protect it. Previously, gunpowder had been stored on Greenwich Peninsula , but fears of an explosion there prompted the building of this new establishment further afield. The purpose of Purfleet

1302-425: The advent of missile-equipped warships , the term missile "magazine" has also been applied to the storage area for guided missiles on the ship, usually carried below the main decks of the warships. For ships with both forward and aft surface-to-air missile launchers, there are at least two missile magazines. Sometimes the magazines of guided-missile frigates and guided-missile destroyers have carried or do carry

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1364-711: The area: Fraserburg is situated at an altitude of 1,385 metres (4,544 ft) above sea level on a high Karoo plateau, north of the Nuweveld Mountains . Similar to -although not to the same extent as- nearby Sutherland, Fraserburg's arid climate and remote location make its night skies among the world's clearest and darkest. The telescopes of the South African Astronomical Observatory 32°22′46″S 20°48′38.5″E  /  32.37944°S 20.810694°E  / -32.37944; 20.810694  ( SAAO ) list located roughly 95 km to

1426-479: The compartment with seawater in an emergency. The separation of shell and propellant gave the storage of the former the name "shell room" and the latter "powder room". Surface warships that have carried torpedoes , and ones that still do (such as the Mark 46 torpedo for antisubmarine warfare ), have had torpedo magazines for carrying these dangerous antiship and antisubmarine weapons in well-defended compartments. With

1488-403: The defences of Cork Harbour . Rocky Island , midway between the mainland and Haulbowline Island (which at the time was an ordnance depot), is dominated by a magazine complex dating from 1808; it held up to 25,000 barrels, and was the principal store for the whole of Ireland. In 2007 it was restored and converted into Ireland's first crematorium outside Dublin. The Order of Saint John built

1550-451: The district. The town is also well known for the large number of unique and well-preserved fossil finds that litter the surrounding area. The earliest known inhabitants of the area were the San people and their artefacts and rock paintings can still be found in the area. The first Europeans to arrive in the region were Trekboers who arrived in 1759. The first settler to be recorded in these parts

1612-518: The edge of town, was built by the British army in case of war with the neighbouring Griqua people and was used during the Anglo-Boer War . In 1938 the town's first power station was installed with 7 Lister Blackstone generators -still present- used to power the town at the time it was connected to the national grid in 1983. In 1968 on a nearby farm a number of very well preserved fossilised footsteps were discovered dating back 250 million years to

1674-618: The end of World War II, and ICI Nobel's Roslin gunpowder factory which closed in 1954. This left the sole United Kingdom gunpowder factory at ICI Nobel's Ardeer site in North Ayrshire , Scotland ; it too closed in October 1976. Since then gunpowder has been imported into the United Kingdom. Gunpowder magazines survive at several locations in the UK. It can be seen that, in many cases, the gunpowder

1736-519: The entire building, apart from the chapel, was being used to store gunpowder. Gunpowder was still being stored there when the Ordnance Board was disbanded in the mid-nineteenth century. HMS  Talbot was moored in the Thames at Beckton as a powder magazine in the late 19th century. The Board of Ordnance maintained magazines at both Tilbury Fort and New Tavern Fort , which face each other across

1798-513: The fact that the exterior is more ornamented here than elsewhere (probably in deference to its setting) with a Palladian style portico and other features. The magazine provided the army with a stock of gunpowder in the capital, in case of 'foreign invasion or popular uprising'. It remained in MOD hands until 1963, after which it served as a storage facility. Since 2013 it has had a new lease of life, having been refurbished and extended by Dame Zaha Hadid , as

1860-585: The finest ensemble in any of the Ordnance Yards and a remarkable example of integrated factory planning of the period". Building work on the Square Tower , Portsmouth , started in 1494; and from the end of the 16th century until 1779 it was used as a powder magazine, with a capacity of 12,000 barrels of gunpowder. The inhabitants of Portsmouth petitioned the Master General of the Ordnance in 1716 to remove

1922-657: The following locations, among others: There are magazines at: The Ballincollig gunpowder mills were first opened in the late 18th century and were bought, in 1804, by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 's Board of Ordnance to help defend the Kingdom against attack. They were one of three royal gunpowder factories; but the Ballincollig mills became disused after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. They were sold off by

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1984-425: The government in 1832, in a semi-derelict condition; but were bought by a Liverpool merchant and were reopened to manufacture gunpowder; finally closing, just over a century ago, in 1903. Many buildings survive and, together with the associated canals , were incorporated into a regional park – Ballincollig Regional Park. The site contains a number of powder magazines, as well as Expense magazines. The No. 2 magazine

2046-508: The gunpowder, as they were worried about the hazards it posed to the town, but nothing was done at that time. A further petition was sent to the Board of Ordnance in 1767 following an explosion which caused extensive damage. This led to the construction of the Priddy's Hard magazine at Gosport (see below), in a remote area, across the water from Portsmouth. The Square Tower still exists. After 1779 it

2108-550: The later 19th century. Gunpowder production in the United Kingdom was gradually phased out during the mid-20th century. The last remaining gunpowder mill at the Royal Gunpowder Factory, Waltham Abbey was damaged by a German parachute mine in 1941 and it never reopened. This was followed by the closure of the gunpowder section at the Royal Ordnance Factory , ROF Chorley , the section was closed and demolished at

2170-645: The magazine to explode. The fort was reused in both the First and Second World Wars; and additional expense magazines constructed. The fort is now owned by the National Trust . As early as 1461, the Tower of London included a 'powderhous' within its walls. With the establishment of the Board of Ordnance there, its use as a gunpowder store increased. In the Tudor period the White Tower was refitted for this purpose, and by 1657

2232-505: The magazines are required to store not only the aircraft carrier's own defensive weapons, but all of the weapons for her warplanes , including rapid-fire gun ammunition, air-to-air missiles such as the Sidewinder missile , air-to-surface missiles such as the Maverick missile , Mk 46 ASW torpedoes , Joint Direct Attack Munitions , "dumb bombs", HARM missiles , and anti-ship missiles such as

2294-613: The main storehouses within a containing wall. Each magazine is separated from its neighbour by an earth-filled 'traverse' building, designed to absorb the impact of an explosion – the first time large magazines had been provided with traverses. Like all the main buildings at Weedon, the magazines lie along the bank of a branch of the Grand Union Canal for ease of transport. In 1827 the four magazines contained 10,500 barrels of powder, along with 1,463,700 ball and 693,746 blank cartridges. The hexagonal Old Powder Magazine still stands near

2356-559: The neighbouring Griqua people and subsequently used in the Anglo-Boer War . Production of gunpowder in England appears to have started in the mid-13th century with the aim of supplying The Crown . Records show that gunpowder was being made in 1346, at the Tower of London ; a powder house existed at the Tower in 1461. Gunpowder was also being made or stored at other royal residences such as Greenwich Palace (the reason being that these were where

2418-444: The recommendations of the 1863 Royal Commission . The magazine still exists. A further two, smaller, underground magazines, No. 2 magazine and No. 3 magazine , were also built. No. 3 magazine exploded on 3 July 1900 destroying most of the barracks. Gunner Hains was killed. It was concluded that he had killed himself by firing a ball cartridge down a ventilator shaft into the magazine which held 3 tons (3 tonnes) of gunpowder, causing

2480-498: The rigid steel does not allow blast waves to dissipate. The USS Iowa turret explosion was such an example: in 1989 a loading incident caused a gun turret explosion, which spread to further powder stores in the turret, which eventually killed all 47 men in the turret. The turret served to contain the blast, protecting the rest of the ship, but amplified the blast inside the turret ensuring deadly conditions. During World War II, many ships met their end via magazine detonations. During

2542-575: The royal armouries were based). It was also stored in Scotland , in royal castles, such as Edinburgh Castle . Gunpowder manufacture at Faversham began as a private enterprise in the 16th century. From the 18th century, efforts began to be made to site magazines away from inhabited areas. Nevertheless, storage at the older established sites persisted well into the 19th century. The use of gunpowder for both military and civil engineering purposes began to be superseded by newer nitrogen -based explosives from

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2604-647: The ruins of the Charles Bathurst Smelt Mill in Arkengarthdale , North Yorkshire . It stored gunpowder for use in the numerous lead workings in the area and was last used as a candle factory. All lead working in the dale ceased around 1911. The remains of old storage magazines are prominent in the landscape around the old Nobel's Explosives site in Ayrshire, many protected by large earth banks which acted as blast walls; these are not all gunpowder magazines, as

2666-612: The same time, together with a 'rolling way' for moving gunpowder barrels between the magazine and a nearby wharf; together with the Magazine they are all Grade I listed structures. Both the fort and the magazine came under the control of the Board of Ordnance until 1855; control passing, first to the War Office , and then the Admiralty in 1891. Priddy's Hard became a Naval Armaments Depot, finally closing in 1977. The magazine now forms part of

2728-457: The site has long been associated with other explosives, particularly dynamite and ballistite . A gunpowder magazine was located near the site of the Low Well in the village of Barkip , also known as The Den, near Beith , North Ayrshire. An explosives magazine at the old Hessilhead limestone Quarry near Beith in North Ayrshire had a small section for blasting caps and a larger section for

2790-479: The sticks of Dynamite . A restored powder house at Culzean Castle stands close to the sea cliffs. It was used to store gunpowder for the battery and for the 8am daily cannon shot. Magazine (artillery) The term is also used for an ammunition dump , a place where large quantities of ammunition are stored for later distribution. This usage is less common. In the early history of tube artillery drawn by horses (and later by mechanized vehicles), ammunition

2852-496: The town dating to the era of the ostrich feather and wool booms of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1861 the town's distinctive hexagonal stone bell tower was built. Known as The Pepperpot due to its distinctive shape, the 9 meter tall structure and was used as the magistrate’s private office, the Market Master’s office and functioned as the town's first library. In 1870 a powder magazine , which still stands on

2914-496: The town's first medical doctor arrived. In 1861 a prison was opened in the town, it closed 107 years later in 1968. In 1870 the town's first attorney and noted Afrikaans author, H. W. A. Cooper , moved to the town where he wrote the "Boerebrieven" in the Afrikaans newspaper Het Volksblad , writing under the pseudonym Samuel Zwaartman. The town was declared a municipality on June 6, 1862. There are many Victorian era houses in

2976-430: The water line—especially since the magazines could then be readily flooded in case of fire or other dangerous emergencies on board the ship. An open flame was never allowed inside the magazine. More modern warships use semi-automated or automated ammunition hoists . The path through which the naval artillery 's ammunition passed typically has blast-resistant airlocks and other safety devices, including provisions to flood

3038-488: The west of the town just outside Sutherland. These include the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere. Fraserburg has an average yearly temperature of 13.9 °C and an average annual minimum temperature of 6 °C; Snowfall is common in winter. On average the town's warmest month is January with an average temperature of 21.7 °C,

3100-532: The years, and their designs were influenced by French military architecture, particularly the style of Vauban . The British, who took over Malta in 1800, also built a number of magazines on the islands. Gunpowder magazines in Malta include: In addition, some of the coastal fortifications also had their own magazines or storage areas. In the Netherlands three gunpowder magazines still exist. The Kruithuis in Delft ,

3162-558: Was Willem Steenkamp, after whom the Steenkampsberg is named. In 1851 Fraserburg was established on the farm Rietfontein and named after the Scottish immigrant Reverend Colin Fraser. A post office was established in 1858, seven years after the town's founding, this led to an era of development for the area. In 1859 a magistrates office was opened and in 1860 a police station was opened and

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3224-525: Was added in 1856 (part of a policy of expansion following the Crimean War ); both still stand flanked by two buildings, the former cooperage and the shifting house, which, along with the magazines, are listed buildings. The magazines remained in use until the 1950s. The surrounding land is earmarked for future redevelopment as part of the Tipner Regeneration scheme. Another magazine depot for Portsmouth

3286-452: Was built by the Board of Ordnance and is the oldest magazine. It is 29-foot (8.9 m) long by 28-foot (8.6 m) wide. It has a groin-vaulted roof . The magazine is protected by earthen banks on two sides; with doors at both ends. The No. 1 magazine is newer; and was built sometime after 1828. It is 80-foot (24.5 m) long by 25-foot (7.6 m) wide and has solid walls, but is now roofless. There is a surviving magazine at Camden Fort Meagher , part of

3348-602: Was built during the Qajar dynasty . Nothing remains of this building today, and its exact location is unknown. A magazine was erected in Bathurst, East Cape , by the British military in 1821; it is still standing. It usually carried about 273 kg gunpowder, 7,000 ball cartridges and 60 rifles as stock. In 1870 the British military built a powder magazine in the Northern Cape town of Fraserburg (also still standing) in case of war with

3410-399: Was carried in separate unarmored wagons or vehicles. These soft-skinned vehicles were extremely vulnerable to enemy fire and to explosions caused by a weapons malfunction. Therefore, as part of setting up an artillery battery , a designated place would be used to shelter the ready ammunition. In the case of batteries of towed artillery the temporary magazine would be placed, if possible, in

3472-434: Was established at Marchwood , where three magazines were built in 1814–16 to an innovative design by Sir William Congreve . Movement of gunpowder barrels within the complex was by canal. Four more magazines were added in 1856, and by 1864 Marchwood was Britain's largest magazine complex with capacity for 76,000 barrels. Two magazines have survived (one of 1814–16, one of 1856) along with some ancillary buildings (one of which

3534-557: Was receiving regular consignments of powder from Waltham Abbey , to provide both the Navy and the Army with supplies. The Ministry of Defence finally closed and sold the site in 1962, and several buildings were demolished to make way for a new housing estate. Some significant original buildings remain, however: the clock tower, the proofing house (in which samples of new consignments were tested) and one magazine. This magazine, No. 5, has been designated

3596-497: Was recognized as unsuitable for this role as early as 1808 when a new magazine (since demolished) was built on an adjacent site; another, of similar design, was added in 1857. The latter, which still stands, is described as 'a particularly fine magazine building of the 1850s, distinguished by its historicist style' and 'the most impressive example of a magazine using the catenary arch system'. In 1877, five more new magazines were built inland at Chattenden (the two sites being linked by

3658-521: Was stored in locations which were both remote from habitations and could be made secure. They were also often sited in dense woodland (or had trees planted around them) as a way of lessening the effect of any explosion. The Gunpowder Magazine in Berwick-upon-Tweed was built in 1745 to service Berwick Barracks and sited at a safe distance from them to the south. It is a solid stone building, heavily buttressed, windowless, stone roofed and enclosed by

3720-411: Was the last great work of the Board of Ordnance before its disbandment in 1856. Bull Point was and is unusual in the unity and precise purpose of its design: rather than developing gradually over time, it was planned as a whole, and with a particular view to meeting the storage needs of emerging new types of artillery. Four Magazines were built (1851–54) each holding 10,000 barrels. These were followed by

3782-410: Was to store newly manufactured gunpowder, prior to its distribution elsewhere. Purfleet was centred on five large magazines, each one capable of holding up to 10,400 barrels of gunpowder. These substantial brick-built sheds were windowless, with copper-lined doors and sand-filled roof voids – all designed to prevent (or mitigate the effects of) an explosion. By the end of the eighteenth century, Purfleet

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3844-491: Was used for other purposes; including employment as a semaphore station in 1817. Priddy's Hard began life as Priddy's Hard Fort ; however in 1768 King George III authorised the construction of a gunpowder magazine inside the ramparts to avoid having to store gunpowder in the Square Tower, Portsmouth . Construction was begun in 1771 and the magazine was in use by 1777. A cooperage and shifting house were built alongside at

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