From Gunpowder to Guns is a wonderfully readable and descriptive account of two Lea Valley armouries that were responsible for supplying weapons and explosives to British and Commonwealth forces for over 200 years. It is also the story of historical government failings that have an echo in events surrounding some of today's major military conflicts. The author reveals, for the first time, how the lack of understanding in the design, development and manufacture of weapons by high-ranking Government officials placed our armed forces in considerable danger during the Crimean War.
The book shows how the Royal Small Arms Factory, at Enfield Lock, became the first in Britain to manufacture weapons with interchangeable parts with machine tools purchased from America. The extraordinary story of the growth of the Royal Gunpowder Mills at Waltham Abbey takes us on an incredible journey from basic explosives through to Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb, the development of rocket propellants, the exploration of space and the spin-off of modern materials used in everyday objects.