Background Prior to the formation of the Royal Gunpowder Mills,
gunpowder production was centered in
Dublin on tributaries to the
Liffey, in particular the
River Carmac where three gunpowder factories had been established in the late 18th century.
Formation The gunpowder mills were first established in
Ballincollig in 1794, by Corkman Charles Henry Leslie alongside his
silent partner John Travers, trading under the name of
Leslie, Travers and Company, Royal Irish Gunpowder Mills. He chose Ballincollig as a site for the gunpowder factory for several reasons: from a safety perspective, it was relatively remote at the time, far from any well-populated areas; on the other hand, it was close enough to
Cork city to avail of its
port to facilitate the importation of the raw materials required for the production of gunpowder. Furthermore, its location in a flat valley and its water-power potential influenced Leslie's choice of Ballincollig as the ideal site. Leslie built a
weir to produce a head of water and a
canal, one and a half miles long which was fed by the
River Lee and which powered his two mills at the eastern end of the site. For the first twenty years following their construction, the mills were the largest in Ireland, and second largest in Europe after Waltham Abbey. To ensure sufficient water supply, three existing River Lee channels were merged into one near the old
Inniscarra graveyard which resulted in later flooding of the area. Following the
1798 Rebellion and the emerging threat from
Napoleon, the British government deemed it vital to seek out a
monopoly on gunpowder production in Ireland. In 1804, Leslie bought out Travers' share of the mills, and either in that same year or in 1805, he sold the mills on a lease of 999 years to the British Board of Ordnance for a sum of
IR£30,000. To meet the demands of the
British Army, during the
Napoleonic Wars the mill site was expanded tenfold and twelve new mills were added to the complex as well as new processing buildings and homes for the workers and senior officials. To improve security, a barracks was constructed in 1810, and military escorts were arranged to accompany the wagons of powder to Cork Harbour. The site covered , and was enclosed by a high limestone wall. After the Napoleonic Wars, the demand for gunpowder fell dramatically and the mills were closed in 1815. The
Duke of Wellington ordered "The whole of the wooden part of the manufactory to be taken down (and) the foundations to be preserved". The machinery was oiled, painted and maintained. Some of the equipment was put up for auction in 1831 and soon many of the buildings were in dilapidated state.
Re-opening as a private company In early 1830s the mills were acquired by Sir John Tobin and Company of
Liverpool for £15,000. Tobin and his partner Charles Horsfall transformed the mills into one of the most up to date industries in the country. Within a few months the complex was being renovated and workers were employed at clearing out the disused waterways. By mid-1835 at the Ballincollig mills, trading as the Royal Gunpowder Mills Company, had commenced the manufacture and the weekly wage bill was almost 200 pounds. Before the end of the 1830s there were about 200 people employed at the mills and the annual production of gunpowder was in the region of 16,000 barrels. To reduce the danger of accidents the various departments were placed at some distance from each other ; materials were transported on small canals which eliminated the hazard of sparks from horses hooves. The quantities of gunpowder exported between 1836 and 1842 were : 1836 – 7,517 casks ; 1837 – 6,267 casks, 1838 – 9,835 casks ; 1839 – 16,045 casks ; 1840 – 13,914 casks ; 1841 – 16,489 casks ; 1842 – 17,738 casks. Having such quantities of gunpowder passing through the city gave cause for alarm and in June 1842 the matter was discussed by the Harbour Board. It was agreed that great caution should be exercised while shipping the material and it was suggested that the shipping point be moved from the navigation wall down river to
Rochestown. It was later suggested that new road to be constructed to transport the gunpowder from Ballincollig to Cork, and a plan to build a canal was also suggested. Ballincollig continued to grow into the middle of the nineteenth century, even while
famine raged in other parts of the island, and the mills became one of the largest industrial establishments in the Cork area. At this time about 500 men and boys were employed and a range of skills were in use in the mills: coopering, mill-wrighting, carpentry as well as other specialist gunpowder making skills. The population of
Ballincollig, in 1886, from the Postal Directory of Munster, was 1,130 (including the military). The powder at this time was largely blasting powder to meet the demands of the construction of new railways, mining and quarrying. ==Trades==