One Town That Changed The World

Beehive and Bottle Kilns, first developed by Joseph Aspdin in the 19th century and subsequently by Isaac Johnson at Swanscombe in 1847. The local cement industry grew into Blue Circle PLC.

Deneholes are shafts dug during the medieval period in order to extract chalk. This was then spread on farmland. The miners would climb down the shaft using footholds in the shaft walls and a windlass to raise the chalk.

Godfrey Box set up his Iron Slitting Mill in 1595 to cut bars of iron into long square rods, which could then be drawn out to make wire. Box was from Liege, where iron slitting had been established in the 1580s.

Dartford’s location on the Thames, with the freshwater from Dartford Creek, made it an ideal location for many early industries.

Dartford was an important station on the pilgrimage to Canterbury. Dartford Priory played a significant part in the local economy, owning large amounts of land and producing goods, wine and beer.

Sir John Spilman, a German migrant from Lindau, set up the first commercially successful paper mill in England for producing white paper in 1588. In 1589, he was granted the monopoly on building paper mills, producing paper and buying rag and paper for recycling. He used an image of a jester’s hat as his watermark and company logo, giving rise to the term ‘Foolscap’ for this type of paper.

The Thames Barges were an iconic view on the Thames, transporting goods from Kent and Essex into London.  See David Leal’s Facebook page to see ‘Decima’, an example of a ‘living’ barge.

The Fourdrinier Machine was a continuous papermaking machine perfected in 1806 by Bryan Donkin. It radically advanced paper production, allowing large, easily transportable rolls to be manufactured.

Cod Liver Oil barrels at Burrough’s Wellcome’s Kepler Wharf, a brand of health products produced in Dartford.

Bryan Donkin was apprenticed to John Hall of Dartford in 1792. He went on to play a leading role in the world’s first food canning factory in 1811. This major advance revolutionized long term preservation of foodstuffs.

Dartford was one of the first towns to use gas lighting in its streets and homes. The Dartford Gas Company was founded in 1826.

This machine revolutionized the speed at which newspapers could be printed when it appeared in the 1840s. Applegath ran silk and calico printing works.

Applegath also developed a six colour printing system for the Bank of England to produce paper money from 1818 to 1821, however the system was eventually rejected.

An advert for a device for producing a watermark on continuous run paper in around 1826.

The Dartford and Swanley Chronicle now known as the Dartford Times is the town’s longest running newspaper, being printed from 1869. Both publications are no longer available.

The Times ran an article in 1886 regarding the transport of 30,000 frozen mutton carcasses from the Falkland Islands to Britain. The ship was fitted with pioneering cold air machines manufactured by J&E Hall Ltd. The entire cargo arrived in perfect condition, the beginnings of the international import and export of chilled and frozen foods around the world.

A 19th century poster advertising the presence in town of a sailor who claimed to have become a Maori Chieftain on a trip to New Zealand. The poster depicts him with traditional Maori tattoos.

Manufactured by Burroughs Wellcome, Hazeline Snow was produced in Dartford from 1892 until 1970 to ‘whiten’ dark skin. It is still made in South East Asia.

During the Second World War, J&E Hall perfected the equipment for the freeze drying of blood. It was one of the earliest uses of the freeze dry technique and enabled blood to be easily transported and distributed at the front.

Women picking belladonna (Deadly Nightshade) and digitalis (Foxglove) at Burroughs Wellcome’s Materia Medica Farm on Dartford Freshwater Marshes around 1904. A variety of plants were grown from which compounds could be extracted.

Founded in 1785 by John Hall, J&E Hall Ltd carried out a huge amount of engineering works at its Dartford works.

Hiram Maxim pictured talking through his plans for a heavier than air flying machine at his experimental plant in what was Bexley Hospital. On 31st July 1894 his steam powered flying machine successfully flew 100 feet.

Richard Trevithick designed the world’s first railway locomotive, The Catch Me If You Can, in 1808. He worked in Dartford from 1832 after being invited by J&E Hall. Unfortunately he died a year later whilst staying at the Royal Victoria and Bull Hotel and is buried at St Edmund’s Pleasance.

Vickers Ltd tested aircraft on Dartford Salt Marshes between 1911 and 1919. The Vimy was used by Alcock and Brown for their first non-stop transatlantic flight.

Opened in 1991 The Queen Elizabeth Bridge spans 2872 metres.

Although never used, these bombs were designed in WW2 and intended to roll like Mexican Jumping Beans into what were mistakenly believed to be V1 launch tunnels.