Wednesday, June 05, 2019

Silvertown TNT explosion 1917

This evening I attended a seminar on "good design" in planning at Royal Wharf. On route I came across this stone memorial and notice board marking the entrance to the former munitions factory that blew up in the first world War. It killed 73 workers and local residents as well as more than 400 injured in what is believed to have been the biggest ever explosion in London's history.

A number of residential streets next to the factory were destroyed and 70000 homes were damaged.

West Ham MP, Lyn Brown has a relative (her grandmother?) who was permanently disabled by the explosion.

While no one really knows why the explosion actually happened but it makes you wonder why was such a dangerous explosives factory allowed to operate in a populated residential area?


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