The
town of Purfleet, nineteen miles from London and situated on the Thames,
had a public magazine for gunpowder. The gunpowder was stored in detached
buildings which were all bomb proof, so that if one blew, the others
would remain intact. The magazine had a handsome house and gardens for
the enjoyment and reception of the Board of Ordnance. Purfleet also
had extensive lime works, whose workers made up the greater part of
the town's population. The walks among the vast excavations were described
by Hughson as "very romantic". There was a chapel at the bottom
of one of the pits, for the use of the inhabitants.
