The Gunpowder Mills That Kept Exploding: Why Lakeland Valleys Were Built for Blasts

Before Cumbria was famous for walking holidays, it was famous for blowing up. From Lowwood, licensed in 1798, to later works such as Elterwater, gunpowder was made for mining, quarrying, civil engineering, sporting and eventually military use. The spacing between buildings, blast walls, water systems and surviving ruins show how the industry tried — sometimes successfully — to keep one explosion from becoming everybody’s problem.