Location:
- Grid reference: TQ71216410
- x=571210
- y=164100
- 51°21'1"N; 0°27'31"E
- Civil Parish: Wouldham, Kent
Clinker manufacture operational: 1853-1859, 1863-1903
Approximate total clinker production: 320,000 tonnes
Raw materials: Grey Chalk (Zig-zag Chalk Formation: 94-97 Ma) and Chalk Marl (West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation: 97-100 Ma) from 571750,163800. Initially Medway Alluvial Clay.
Ownership:
- 1853-1855 Thomas Freen and Co.
- 1855-1859 Wouldham Patent Portland Cement Co.
- 1863-1880 Robertson and Raymond Ltd
- 1880-1900 Wouldham Cement Works Ltd
- 1900-1903 APCM (Blue Circle)
The plant initially made lime. A D Robertson, having run the plant, moved to Grays to set up the more important Wouldham (Essex) plant, confusingly transplanting the place name. There were four bottle kilns for Portland cement in 1869. In the late 1880s, these were replaced with six chamber kilns, and a further eight were installed in the early 1890s, giving a total 350 t/week. With the APCM takeover, there was little point operating the plant alongside the nearby Burham, which was earmarked for expansion. There was no rail, and essentially all transport was by water. The plant site was cleared, and is now under housing. The quarry remained open for some time as a supplementary source of chalk for the Frindsbury plants, and is now waste land. See Wouldham Village website.
Power supply
The plant was entirely direct-driven by steam engine.
Rawmills
The type of rawmills is unrecorded.
No rotary kilns were installed.
Sources: