Elmley

Location:

Clinker manufacture operational: 1854-1901

Approximate total clinker production: 300,000 tonnes

Raw materials:

Ownership:

Throughout its life, it was called the Elmley Cement Works. The location in the Elmley Hills area of the Isle of Sheppey was a source of septaria, and there was no nearby source of chalk. A brickworks was established at the site in the 1840s, operated by Lake & Co, then by Mackenzie, Furness & Co. In 1854, the plant was acquired by William Levett who commissioned George Burge Jr to convert it to cement manufavture, and in 1855 it was advertising both Roman Cement and Portland cement. In February 1866, Henry Reid was briefly involved; he became bankrupt shortly afterwards. The plant started with four small bottle kilns for Portland plus several others for Roman. After Levett's death in 1878, the company was reconstituted, retaining his name. It was of marginal profitability with frequent shut-downs, throwing its captive workforce onto Poor Law support and was up for sale in 1882 and 1894. It had expanded by 1895 to twelve kilns of which perhaps ten (output 220 t/week) were used for Portland cement. When the Beehive plant was acquired in 1892, relatively efficient Portland cement manufacture was available, and the plant progressively laid off its workforce. There was no rationale for keeping the plant after the APCM takeover, and the plant, complete with its resident population, was completely cleared. The works village was deserted as early as 1904. The site was allowed to fall into ruin, and the foundations are still clear. During the 20th century, it has been systematically confused in folk memory with the Turkey cement plant, some distance to the south, which made Roman cement for about 20 years in the early 19th century, and was long disused when PC manufacture began at Elmley.

Power supply

In the final plant, there were two steam angines, running a washmill and a set of flatstone dry mills.

Rawmills

One washmill making thin slurry.

No rotary kilns were installed.


Sources:

The Elmley Village

The Isle of Elmley was - and remains - a remote and inaccessible place, although close to major centres of population, accessible originally only by a few sheep tracks across the marshes from Sheppey, or a hazardous rowing boat ferry from the mainland. It is an area of salt marsh, with occasional slightly more elevated areas consisting of outcrops of London Clay that emerge through the alluvium, such as Elmley Hills, which rise to just over 10 m above sea level. The isle was originally separated from the rest of Sheppey by a wide tidal reach. This is now represented by a set of walled drainage channels.

The isle was enclosed in 1816 by its owners, All Souls College, Oxford. Much of the salt marsh was drained and used as pasturage, mainly for sheep, and a few cattle. At the sale of the lease in 1854 it was emphasised that there was no foot-rot. The pre-industrial parish was a bucolic scene, reminiscent of Far from the Madding Crowd, only less cosmopolitan. The small population of the parish consisted mostly of the families of shepherds. The central Kingshill Farm was run by a bailiff - there was a different one at each decennial census. Also in every census was a labourer designated "wall man", responsible for keeping the sea out.

In the late 1840s, a brickworks was established to the north of Elmley Hills. A barge dock was built, and box kilns were installed. A row of wooden cottages and a pub (The Globe) was built for the workforce. In 1854 sale schedules, the brickfield was described as having "an inexhaustible supply of brickearth". However, evidently it was not an attractive proposition for brick makers, and the site was purchased by William Levett who converted it for production of both Roman and Portland cement. Extra housing was built for a considerably increased workforce. All accommodation was tied, and because of the difficulty of getting in and out, the population were entirely dependent on the cement plant. Eventually there were 22 tied cottages, a manager's house and the pub.

The development of the site can be seen in the census totals, as follows:

yearfarmsindustry
1801110
1811210
1821230
1831290
1841420
18517556
18619050
187110698
188182123
189170144
190137102
1911440
1921500
1931190
1951120
196180

The bulk of the cement workers lived in the two terraces of eight dwellings each - the Wooden Cottages and the masonry-built Cement Row. The Wooden Cottages each had base area 3.76 × 6.10 m, and the cottages of Cement Row had base area 3.86 × 7.01 m. The maximum number of people living in the eight Wooden Cottages (1891) was 46. The maximum number of people living in the eight cottages of Cement Row (1881) was 55. Many of the cottages contained more than one household. This works out at about 7.4 m2 per person for cooking, eating and sleeping. There was virtually no escape from this other than the pub. Conditions were scarcely better than those of the inmates of the prison hulks creaking in the Medway.

When the cement plant shut down due to lack of market - which was a frequent occurrence - the workforce were mostly laid off with - at most - 40% pay. Shutdowns commonly occurred between Christmas and mid-February. Newspapers regularly reported assistance given by the Sheppey Poor Law Union during these periods. In one instance, the Union received a shirty letter from George Burge Jr, saying that any starvation among the workforce was due to the "improvidence" of the workers, who spent two thirds of their pay in the pub (in fact, his pub). I'm sure they spoke very well of him. It's hard to understand how they got anyone to work in this hell-hole; certainly, the census shows a large turnover of employees.

On 29/11/1897, with the plant already teetering on the edge of extinction, the sea wall broke and a spring tide flooded the plant and village. Thousands of cattle and sheep were drowned in the surrounding area, as was the farm bailiff.

In 1904, an intrepid reporter of the Sheerness Guardian and East Kent Advertiser (8/10/1904, p7) made his way to the plant by bike. It appears that despite concern being raised in the local council about the lack of pupils at the school, none of the officials had actually been there, so the state of affairs needed reporting. He described, in jocular style, the now-deserted village, saying the houses were better than many in Sheerness. The pub was closed but still fully equipped, and a sign over the door read:

KEZIA SWAN
Licensed to sell beer and to be drunk on or off the premises.

Kezia Swan (b 26/8/1856, South Shields, Co Durham: d 1929) was the widow of the previous publican, George Swan, who drowned in 1897 while attempting to cross the Swale. In 1891 they had lived in Burham, where her husband was born. They moved to Elmley around 1894. In 1911, she was living in Halling, with a daughter and two sons who worked at Halling Manor.