The Pitsea factory produced dynamite, gelignite and other explosives based on nitroglycerin for blasting rocks and mining. It also made guncotton as an ingredient for cordite –  a smokeless propellant used in ammunition.

Explosives, Pitsea & the Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize was set up by a man who built his huge fortune making explosives and the Pitsea Explosives Factory made some of them.

In 1863 Alfred Nobel patented an invention called Dynamite. He had developed a safer way to handle the dangerous explosive Nitroglycerine. He went on to build an enormous company. Nobel desperately wanted to sell to the huge markets of the British Empire but regulations kept him out of manufacturing in Britain. Through a loophole in the law he built a factory in Scotland. Then in 1891 the British Explosives Syndicate built a factory in Pitsea. Nobel was a secret partner to begin with but eventually was able to trade under his own name. The Pitsea Explosives Factory made everything from ammunition to explosives for mining. The factory thrived during the First World War but struggled after the Peace and closed in 1929. The Nobel business then went into chemicals becoming a household name as Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). Nobel’s death in 1896 caused a sensation as he left no money to his family in his will. Instead he set up prizes for those “making the greatest contribution to mankind”. The Nobel Prizes have been awarded every year since 1901.

Explosives for peace

Far safer than Nitroglcerin, dynamite was used extensively for blasting as the industrial revolution called for more raw materials and easier paths around and through nature’s toughest obstacles.

Nobel’s Extra Dynamite, also know as blasting gelantine or gelignite was introduced in 1875. Gelignite was resistant to moisture and wouldn’t cause explosions in coal dust or methane gas, making it the perfect explosive for underground mining.

Gelignite made it faster, safer and more efficient to mine the coal that fuelled the huge boom in Victorian industry and engineering. The Pitsea factory sent explosives as far a field as Australia where people were mining everything from coal to gold.

Made at Pitsea, Britonite and Pitsea Powder No. 2 were once on the Permitted List for use in coal mines. The 1920 Dictionary of Explosives
lists them alongside a range of British brands, some named after places like Sheppey and Barking, and some with bizarre names like Good Luck!

Today, Dyno Nobel’s innovative slurry and emulsion explosives are still extensively used in quarrying and mining.

Explosives for war

In 1902, with tensions building up between the British and the Dutch over South Africa, the Pitsea factory added buildings for the manufacture of cordite, a smokeless explosive used as a propellant in military shells.

Cordite manufacturing buildings featured distinctive bays with the diving walls extending upwards between rooms above the roof to control possible spread of fire.

The RSPB visitor centre opposite the Wat Tyler Centre (above) was once a cordite building.

Guncotton was a primary ingredient of cordite, a mix of waste from the Lancashire cotton mills and nitroglycerin. Its manufacture was highly dangerous, as proven in the fatal 1913 guncotton explosion at Pitsea.

Guncotton needed to be thoroughly ‘picked’ by hand to remove any impurities.

Explosives for farming & sport

An amazing array of shotgun and rifle cartridges were also produced for use by farmers to control vermin and by huntsmen to shoot game.