Location:
- Grid reference: TQ71926711
- x=571920
- y=167110
- 51°22'37"N; 0°28'13"E
- Civil Parish: Cuxton, Kent.
Clinker manufacture operational: 1883-1902
Approximate total clinker production: 78,000 tonnes
Raw materials:
- Upper Chalk (Lewes Nodular Chalk Formation: 88-90 Ma) from 571810,167290
- Medway Alluvial Clay
Ownership:
- 1883-1891 Medway Portland Cement Co. Ltd
- 1895-1900 Booth and Co. Ltd
- 1900-1902 APCM (Blue Circle)
Also called Medway Works, but not to be confused with the nearby Weekes plant, which was also sometimes called Medway. All historians seem to have missed the point that this plant was part of a Ponzi scheme got up by Jabez Spencer Balfour, one of H O O'Hagan's more disreputable associates. A "pop-up" promoter company (the Public Works & Contract Co. Ltd) hired the unfortunate engineer Eliel Robson Cummin (b 1839, Shildon, Co. Durham: d 14/11/1884, Frindsbury, Kent) to set up the plant, paying 10% dividends before the plant was operational. The company went bankrupt in 1891, when Balfour fled the country in a vain attempt to escape the law. The quarry continued in use as shown by the OS maps, with chalk extracted sufficient for 27,000 tonnes of clinker in 1883-1891, and for 48,000 tonnes in 1896-1909. It seems that the abandoned plant was acquired by Booth & Co and reinstated, and was operated until shortly after the APCM takeover. The plant was also used a shipping point for the Borstal Court plant. The plant was cleared before WWI, and Blue Circle landfilled the quarry in the 1970s.
Power supply
The plant was driven directly by one 170 HP steam engine.
Raw mills
A single 18' washmill was followed by three flat stone mills.
No rotary kilns were installed.
Sources::