Magazine No.5 is the last of the original five gunpowder magazines that once made up the Purfleet Royal Gunpowder magazines on the banks of the River Thames.
William Skinner, tasked with finding a site, reported in January 1751 that Purfleet was “a most proper place for erecting a Grand Magazine ... at the north end of Long Reach where generally the Men of War take in their Powder.”
Built between 1762 and 1765, the original five magazines and the Proof House were used to test, store and supply gunpowder to the Army and Royal Navy.
Each magazine could hold 10,400 barrels of gunpowder in peace time, but in times of emergency, such as the Napolionic wars, this could be increased to 10,800 barrels.
During its past the magazine was visited by such notable figures as Benjamin Franklin, William Blye and Captain Cook. In addition to its famous visitors, the magazines have supplied a range of historic ships including HMS Bounty, HMS Endeavour, HMS Resolution and HMS Warrior.
The magazines were in continual active sevice for 200 years before closing their doors for the last time in 1962.
But there was one last battle to fight, a battle that saw four of the magazines disappear forever, but Magazine No.5 survived and, along with the proof house and the garrison clock, remain as a memory of what was once the country's largest gunpowder stores.
The last magazine now houses the Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre and a collection of military and local heritage items, assembled over the past 30 years.
The UKs largest gunpowder stores and the proof house had to be defended. As a result the Purfleet Garrison was established.
The Garrison was surrounded by two layers of 10 foot brick walls and was manned by the Royal Artillery.
The establishment of the Magazines also saw Purfleet village grow significantly to house the workers and supporting infrastructure and it even became a tourist destination during Victoirian times (see the Purfleet Heritage page).
It was recommended to the Board of Ordnance that a public clock would be useful in order to ensure that local workers kept to time for their duties.
London clock maker Aynsworth Thwaites, of Clerkenwell, was commissioned to make an eight-day quarter clock which was installed in a tower at the eastern gate of the Garrison in 1772.
This clock tower remains as a visible reminder to the unique military history of the Purfleet Magazine.
A rifle and weapons range was also established in 1906 on the opposite side of the Mardyke and remained in place until the 1990s.
This took on further storage areas particularly for cordite, and was linked to the Magazines by a narrow gauge railway. The range even had its own station on the LTS Railway from 1911 to 1948, Purfleet Rifle Range Halt.
The area that was the Rifle Range was sold to the RSPB in 2000 and reopened as the Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve in 2006.
In 1915, as a result of repeated raids on London by German airships, the Lord Mayor, Sir Charles Wakefield, offered a prize of £500 for whoever shot down the first zeppelin in Great Britain.
Although airships of the time were filled with highly explosive hydrogen gas, they were extremely hard to hit, flying very high and often even if hit were just holed and and quickly repaired by crew.
On the night of March 31st, 1916, gunners at Purfleet Garrison engaged in anti-aircraft fire against Zeppelin L15. The gunners had recently taken possession of a new AA gun, which proved to be much more effective.
They damaged the airship so badly she dumped her bombs over Aveley and Ockendon and tried to get home. L15 finally crashed in the sea in Herne Bay. Seventeen surviving crew were rescued and imprisoned while one man fell to his death.
Captain J. Harris of the Purfleet garrison put in a claim for the Lord Mayor's prize, but the War Office ruled that gunners could not get a money prize for doing their job, and noted that several batteries along the Thames had also claimed L15.
Instead of cash, the prize was converted into gold medallions, which were given to each of the gunners who engaged the enemy that night.
The medal is inscribed "Well Hit, L15 31st March 1916".
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