Low Wood Gunpowder Works

[1] The mill was set up on an estuary site, for sea access, on the River Leven.

[3] Gunpowder production in the area (now southern Cumbria) had begun in 1764, with a mill at Sedgwick built by John Wakefield of Kendal.

[4][5] The Lowwood site, near Haverthwaite, had been used earlier for a forge of the 17th century, under the alternate name Burnbarrow (closed down by 1620).

[8] Factors favouring gunpowder mill sites in what is now Cumbria included the existing charcoal industry and water power.

[14] The best woods from the point of view of powder grain size were juniper (local name "savin"), followed by alder and silver birch.

[16][15] Fayrer, who died in 1801, was a former slaver captain, and was the company's agent in Liverpool, an important export market for gunpowder in particular to West Africa.

[18][19] After the Slave Trade Act 1807 the company switched largely to the manufacture of blasting powder, a market in which it became prominent.