Chilworth Gunpowder Mills Group

Background

Chilworth Gunpowder Mills Group was formed in 1997 to:

Encourage and promote the protection, conservation, study and management of the Chilworth Gunpowder Mills site, seeking to achieve an appropriate balance between the interests of different specialist organisations.

The aims of the group have been summarised as:

• Bringing together all those interested in the history of the industry, its surviving structures, its buried remains and its landscape
• Acting as a forum for the exchange of views
• Promoting meetings, lectures, exhibitions, visits and other activities
• Promoting the good management of the whole site, including recruiting working parties
• Helping to preserve archival material relating to the mills
• Encouraging the recording of oral history relating to the mills
• Encouraging historical and archaeological research into the mills and related subjects
• Encourage the publication of relevant material
• Seeking the support of appropriate individuals and bodies
• Maintaining liaison with other bodies having related objectives and an interest in the history of the site
• Helping to ensure that public access to the site and nature conservation at the site continue to be taken into account

The Group is made up of representatives from:

• Guildford Borough Council
• St Martha Parish Council
• Surrey Archaeological Society
• Surrey Industrial History Group
• Historic Buildings Conservation Committee
• Unisearch (Surrey University extramural students archaeology society)
• Surrey Wildlife Trust

It also includes individuals with particular interest and/or expertise.

The group has links with:

• Chilworth History Society
• English Heritage and its South-East Regional Office

Activities

Supported by Guildford Borough Council, St Martha Parish Council hosts an annual Open Evening for the public each November to maintain public awareness and respond to local interest. The Group organises the format and content of these meetings that normally include several speakers on wide ranging issues affecting the site such as its history, archaeology, remains of historic structures, wildlife and botany, and the environment.

Members of the group have promoted and supported:

• The conservation and repair of a packhorse bridge in 2001 by Guildford Borough Council with the aid of a grant from English Heritage. The bridge had been on the buildings at risk register
• An English Heritage survey of the Gunpowder Mills site (Cocroft, 2003) covering the scheduled parts as referred to above

The Group provided and manned an information stand with display material during the September 2005 National Heritage Open Day. It plans to continue this.

National Heritage Open Day

Supported by the Guildford Borough Council, the Group runs volunteer working parties to carefully remove damaging vegetation from building structures and remains. Although Scheduled Monument consent has not been required for this, the Group first sought the views of the English Heritage Field Officer on the proposed work and related Method Statement. Following a couple of pilot sessions this work is carried out by agreement with Guildford Borough Council, supervised by an approved member of the Group.

Members of the Group regularly give talks on the site and the gunpowder industry, some being in the form of guided tours. These have been conducted for the Institute of Historic Building Conservation and local and industrial history groups.

The Group is promoting and supporting the preparation of Management and Conservation Plans for the site, initially focussing on the part owned by the Guildford Borough Council. Activities to date include:

• Removal of damaging vegetation (on-going)
• Exposing of remains where appropriate to improve the environment of the buildings, aid their survival and make them more intelligible to the public as part of the local and national heritage
• Assessing the condition of remains with a view to identifying a programme for conservation and repair work followed by a maintenance regime
• Recording of above ground structures and remains in detail, to build on the work carried out by English Heritage. This includes providing training for volunteers

Guildford Borough Council is supporting the work of the group's volunteers by dealing with heavier vegetation where powered machinery, skilled and/or licensed operatives are required.

Volunteers

By involving the local community, the Group seeks to encourage appreciation of the site for its historical importance and relevance and a greater enthusiasm for its good and sustainable management and conservation in the long term.

For more information

For more information contact the Chairman:

Kim Owen
Waterworks Cottage,
Blacksmith's Lane,
Chilworth,
Guildford,
Surrey GU4 8NL

Tel: 01483 565 481

Join the volunteers

To join the volunteers contact:

Andrew Norris
49 Dorking Road,
Chilworth,
Guildford,
Surrey GU4 8NW

Tel: 01483 531 551