Picture to come.
Building
Saltpetre works (nitre beds)
Period: 16th century
Saltpetre, the key ingredient of gunpowder, was not produced in 12th-century England. Gunpowder weapons only appeared in the 14th century, and England long depended on imported saltpetre. In 1515 Henry VIII commissioned a German, Hans Wolf, to gather saltpetre in England, yet by 1558 around 90 per cent was still imported. Saltpetremen extracted it from soil rich in dung and urine, and later from purpose-built nitre beds.
Caveats (confidence: high)
Nitre beds as an organised industry are later still; 16th-century collection was mainly by digging.
Sources: reviews.history.ac.uk
Built from
- Saltpetre works