Crown Quay

Location:

• Grid reference: TQ91036417
• x=591030
• y=164170
• 51°20'40"N; 0°44'35"E
• Civil Parish: Sittingbourne, Kent

Clinker manufacture operational: 1880-1899

Approximate total clinker production: 60,000 tonnes

Raw materials:

• Upper Chalk of unknown origin, probably commercial supplies from the Gillingham area or from the Medway Valley.
• Swale Alluvial Clay from Elmley Saltings

Ownership:

• 1827-1865 John Huggens
• 1880-1892 Rosher's Crown Quay Co.
• 1892-1899 Crown Quay Cement Works Ltd

Also known as Huggens Works and Sittingbourne Works (but not to be confused with Smeed & Dean's plant). This was an early Roman Cement producing site, commencing around 1827 with dredged septaria from the Swale. It ceased making cement 1865-1880, after which Portland cement manufacture began, using wet process, and using clay from the Swale, near Elmley. The clay source probably continued to provide septaria for Roman cement. In 1896 the plant had 13 bottle kilns of which perhaps six were used for Portland cement, making 156 t/week. The plant seems to have extended its capacity in the last few years, with finally 15 kilns, of which perhaps 10 made Portland clinker (260 t/week). The plant used only water transport throughout its life. The plant was shut down in 1899, and remained for many years in a ruinous state. It was finally redeveloped in the 1990s. The site is now under light industry.

Power supply

Steam engines: 45 HP compound condensing beam engine and 14 HP vertical engine

Rawmills

Two washmills made thin slurry.

No rotary kilns were installed.

Sources::

• Primary Sources:
  • Newspaper articles
  • Ordnance Survey 1:2500 mapping
  • BGS mapping and monographs
• Confirmatory Sources:
  • Francis, p 64 (only in the context of Roman cement)
  • Jackson not mentioned
  • Eve not mentioned

The information on this plant is slight: please contact me with any relevant information or corrections.