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The Hogsmill River Read memories of the Hogsmill River in the Epsom & Ewell History Forum and add your own
Less than a mile downstream from its source, a wooded area sometimes known locally as "the wilderness" contains some of the last remains of the gun powder mills that made Ewell notorious in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Sadly the notoriety was not for the quality of the gun powder that was produced, but for the numerous devastating explosions that ripped though the works. The reports of these are not for the faint hearted! Explosion 1863 Inquest 1863 Explosion 1865 Explosion & Inquest 1870 Explosion 1871
The pre-Raphaelite Artist, who painted the picture "Light Of The World" on the banks of the Hogsmill River, wrote of a journey along the river at the time the picture was painted (1851) in his memoirs written in the early 20th century. You can read this description here. The remains bear no resemblance to any building or process, so these pages aim to use archive photographs, maps and views of the area today to show what went on in various locations around the river and some of the stories that have been recorded in accounts of the explosions.
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