With fireworks popping and whizzing all over the place, and news of a fireworks factory explosion in Staffordshire, this is a good time to remember South Norwood’s place in pyrotechnic history.
In or about 1728 a member of the Brock family set up a fireworks factory in London, which was for a while near Peckham, but moved to South Norwood in 1877.
It was not, like most factories, a single large building, the whole of which might be destroyed in seconds in the event of a major fire or explosion.
Rather, the Brocks’ establishment consisted of many small sheds scattered about over a large area, stated to have been about 50 acres (more than three times the size of South Norwood recreation ground).
If one shed caught fire or exploded, the idea was, all the others would be safe. The sheds were all linked by horse-worked tramways. Steam locomotives and their sparks are not a good idea near explosives.
Our local works was set up according to rules laid down in the Explosives Act of 1875, and suffered no major disasters.
It moved to Sutton in 1901.
Brock’s was said to have been the largest fireworks factory in the world at the time, employing 200 men and women, and making 500 tonnes of fireworks every year.
From 1864 Charles Thomas Brock supplied the huge spectacular displays at the Crystal Palace Park. They also manufactured flares for distress signals, and pyrotechnic devices for the military.
There is nothing left of the works to see today. It was partly built over (Birchanger Road) and partly excavated for brick clay (Woodside brickworks).
A more fleeting Croydon connection with explosives of a more powerful kind occurred on July 14, 1867.
On that day, Alfred Nobel hired a train to carry guests from Charing Cross to chalk pits at Merstham to witness his second UK demonstration of his recently invented dynamite.
His aim was to convince his guests, railway officials and quarry owners, that dynamite is both very safe and (when detonated) a very powerful explosive.
His train was, obviously, routed through Croydon, but the dynamite went separately by road.
PAUL SOWAN
Croydon Natural History
and Scientific Society
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