A more detailed history of Sedgwick part 2 
​A collection of information from Parish records and internet research 
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​The Wakefields and their Gunpowder Era in Sedgwick

In 1760, Sedgwick was a small and widely spread, very rural settlement, straddling the lane between Natland and Levens and included the hamlet of Lakerigg Mill along the riverside in the west, scattered farms such as Chambers, Raines and Well Heads, and several farms and cottages at the junction of Well Heads Lane and Back Lane , where the lane branched off to Hincaster.  

It was around that time, that a young Quaker businessman from Kendal, John Wakefield I, identified the potential of the land around Lakerigg Mill to be developed into a Gunpowder Works; the direct and indirect repercussions of this would change Sedgwick forever.  Without gunpowder and the Wakefield family, there would have been no expansion in the late eigteenth century, no Sedgwick House Estate (comprising more than half of the village by 1950), no canal or aqueduct, no Back Lane and no "Club Room" Village Hall, Cricket Club or even Crosscrake Church.

John Wakefield I (1738–1811) was the son of Roger Wakefield and in 1756, on the death of his father and at the age of just 18, was helping his entrepreneurial mother to run the extensive family's wollen dying and financial businesses in Kendal.
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At this time, there was a huge increase in demand for "black powder" which was used for blasting in mining, quarrying and canal and railway construction. Local fast flowing streams, together with proximity to costal ports which facilitated the import of saltpetre and sulphur and the export of the finished product to all over the British Empire, made the Furness and Westmorland area well-suited to the production of this industrial staple. 3 out of the 7 mills in this area would be located on the short stretch of the River Kent closest to Sedgwick but  John Wakefield's "Old Sedgwick" was the first.

Old Sedgwick ​Gunpowder Mill
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​Just upstream from the stepping stones and ford on the River Kent at Sedgwick, was the hamlet of Lakerigg with a well-established Corn Mill, powered by a short leat, fed by Lakerigg Weir (which was located near where the current footbridge is). There was also a drying kiln, tithe barn and several dwelling houses, some with land.
Wakefield and his partners identified that the fast-flowing river and existing mill could provide power to the works, a good supply of timber for charcoal, barrels  and crates was available locally and the wooded terraced river bank, would not only offer protection from flooding but would keep the mill safely away from the local population, in the event of explosions (which were to happen all too frequently).

Wakefield's reputation as an estute businessman was well known throughout northern England; over the years, he also invested in the  local turnpike road and in shipping, owning five ships trading cotton and sugar between Liverpool and the West Indies.  He also owned his own cotton mill, at Burneside, set up a brewery, Wilson & Noble, in Kendal (now the Old Brewery Arts Centre) and in 1788 established one of the first two banks in Kendal. 

The precise details about how the Old Sedgwick Works were established are not clear, but it seems that in 1764,  John Wakefield I together with his business partners Strickland, Gurnall, Johnson and Hays formed a partnership to begin the development of the site by leasing land from Charles Strickland, who owned the Sizergh Estate. They may have produced gunpowder as early as 1768 (when a 21 year lease was taken out), but by 1770, it is clear from a tontine (an agreement to pool investors capital permitting the last survivor of the group to take everything.) that Hays had left the partnership and was replaced by James Dowker and “Lakerigg Mill Company” was producing gunpowder. Although they leased most of the land needed from the Strickland's Sizergh Estate, the Wakefields purchased a strategically vital plot of land themselves, to enable the construction of a new 400m leat to supply water power to the Mill. 

How was Gunpowder made?
Black powder, thought to have originated in China before the 10th century, was a mixture of saltpetre (top),  sulphur (middle) and charcoal (bottom) usually in the proportion of 75:15:10. The saltpetre supplied oxygen, the sulphur caused combustion at a relatively low temperature and charcoal provided the fuel. Saltpetre was imported from India, Chile and Germany and sulphur from Italy and Sicily, originally through the local port of Milnthorpe. Charcoal was made from local woodlands initially, using juniper, silver birch and alder. The traditional method of charcoal burning did not result in a clean enough product for gunpowder and so the mill's charcoal was burnt in specially built retorts.

​The general production process involved many stages: the saltpetre and sulphur were refined and then along with the charcoal were pulverised, mixed and weighed. The mixture was "incorporated" by grinding and crushing them into a mixture known as "mill cake" which in turn was broken down, pressed into hard slate-like sheets of "press cake". This was then "corned" into grains in a corning mill, dusted, glazed and finally dried. The range of powders made was a wide one;  quarries and iron mines used coarse powders, which were slow burning and did not shatter rock into small fragments, whereas the finer powders were used for sporting and military purposes.

​In 1789, the 21 year lease on Old Sedgwick Mill was renewed and production continued to increase, to the extent that in 1790, the Wakefields had to obtain a new license to enable them to build new incorporating mills on an overflow site, built on land they already owned, half a kilometre downstream at Basingyll, just south of Force Falls. 

In 1802, a major flood damaged the leat and the resulting lack of ability to power the Corning Mill, reduced production for months. A new leat was constructed in the same year.

The Canal arrives 

In 1803, the northern extension of the Lancaster canal had reached Tewitfield, north of Carnforth. The influential Wakefields lobbied hard to ensure that the final leg of the canal which would terminate in Kendal, was re-routed so it could serve their Gunpowder works. Rather than follow the route later adopted by the west coast railway line, it was diverted through the village of Sedgwick. This was only made possible by the construction of diversion loop requiring Hincaster Tunnel and Sedgwick Aqueduct to be built. It would have been a costly alteration and shows the significant influence of the Wakefields. Construction of the northernmost section commenced in 1813 and the canal finally opened in 1820. A wharf on the east side of the canal on the edge of the village served the Mill, bringing in raw materialsand carrying away the finished product. ​

Maps showing canal routes

The Wakefields had renewed the lease of the Mill site again in 1810,  the year before John Wakefield I died and his son John Wakefield II inherited the business and family home. Around this time, Isabella Wakefield, daughter of John Wakefield II while still a young girl, created a landscaped garden river terrace alongside the Basingill Works - there is still some evidence of trees from the garden. 

There seems to have been minor alterations to the site around 1820 and in 1830, a second damaging flood once again cut power to the Mill, prompting the Wakefields to construct a new weir in 1832.

​In addition to floods, droughts impacted on the power supply and the Wakefields were amongst many local businesses, lobbied for reservoirs and dams to be constructed upstream to regulate the flow and maintain its ability to power the many mills along its course. Only Kentmere Reservoir was built.

By 1830, a legal wrangle developed between the Wakefields and their Sizergh Estate  "rivals" as to whether the Wakefields could renew the lease again. Seemingly unhappy with the arrangements, in 1850, the Wakefields secured a license to develop a new site a few miles east at Gatebeck and two years later in 1852, they moved all production to the new mill and closed the Old Sedgwick Mill, leaving what must have been a very early toxic brown field site behind them. The Basingill incorporating mill remained in production serving the Gatebeck Works. 

In 1854, the Sizergh Estate tried unsuccessfully to sell the site of the former Mill and surrounding fields - less of course the "ransom" strip retained by the Wakefields..
The details of the sale show what was left of the site. Also note the original Wakefield Home Sedgwick House and the Village School they provided for the village. 

For an extensive history of the Old Sedgwick Works see the Historic England Report Old Sedgwick Gunpowder Works

The disused works and Basingill

​By 1856, Henry Bainbridge was granted a license to reopen the Gunpowder Works, on condition that he re-routed the footpath through the works and built a new steam house in Mill Field.  There is a detailed map of his plans known as “the Bainbridge Map” which reveals much about the site, but the plan was never realised - possibly because of the Wakefields ransom strip or the inability of such a small site to compete with newer, larger mills nearby. 

The first Ordnance Survey of the area made in 1857, shows only a few buildings remained at Old Sedgwick - several on the Wakefield owned ransome strip and a pair of cottages in Millfield. It seems likely that the Stricklands demolished many disused buildings -including Lakerigg Mill- to make the site more attractive to future buyers. ​

After 1860, new technologies rendered the old “blackpowder” almost obsolete but traditional manufacture continued at Gatebeck and New Sedgwick until 1935 by which time most evidence of Old Sedgwick had long faded.  However, if you look closely, you can still spot the legacy of Sedgwick's gunpowder era.​

​In 1857, A new company The Sedgwick Gunpowder Company Ltd was established by the Strickland Estate and built the "New Sedgwick Gunpowder Works" on the opposite side and just upstream of the river, at Low Park Wood, where the Caravan Site is today. It would employ many Sedgwick residents who would cross the river to go to work. For more history about this Mill see the historic England survey report. 

Meanwhile at Basingill, the incorporating mills remained in use, serving the Gatebeck works, until 1935. Many of the original features  survive today making it one of the better preserved late 18th to early 20th century gunpowder works in northern England. Many of the  structural components still survive, including remains of all the incorporating mills and a charge house, together with virtually all of the water management system which powered the waterwheels. 

By 1868, only 3 cottages remained when the Wakefield Family bought the land as part of the expansion of the Wakefield Estate and Sedgwick entered its next chapter in history, being re-modelled to serve the the Wakefield Estate. ​

Detailed History Part 3 - The Wakefield Estate - click here