Smoke Alarm in Swanscombe

Swanscombe

Swanscombe is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England. It is located east of Dartford and north-west of Gravesend, in the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. At the 2001 UK census, the Swanscombe selecting ward had a population of 6,418. Swanscombe was necessary in the early history of cement. The first cement manufacturing functions near Swanscombe were opened at Northfleet by James Parker, around 1792, making "Roman concrete" from concrete rock brought from the Isle of Sheppey. James Frost opened up a works at Swanscombe in 1825, utilizing chalk from Galley Hill, having patented a brand-new cement called British Cement. The Swanscombe plant was consequently obtained by John Bazley White & Co, which came to be the biggest part of Blue Circle Industries when it created in 1900. It ultimately closed down in 1990. In between 1840 and 1930 it was the largest cement plant in Britain. By 1882 a number of concrete makers were running throughout the north Kent area, but the resulting dust contamination drove individuals of Swanscombe to take legal action versus the regional concrete jobs. Despite various technical developments, the trouble continued right into the 1950s, with telegraph lines over an inch thick in white dust. Modern cement kilns in Kent using chimneys 170 m (550 feet) in height are currently claimed to be the cleanest in the world. Nonetheless, the neighbouring Medway towns are reported to be one of the most polluted lived in location in the UK, and the cement industry adds to acid rain in Scandinavia.