Volume Eleven - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - some more aspects - The Explosives Pier at Penarth Dock . . .

The text of the label states :

'Explosive - This label must be used on every Truck containing Petroleum, Dangerous Oils, Lucifer Matches, Gunpowder, or other inflammable or explosive articles. Trucks so labelled must not be approached with lights of any kind.'

Whilst I am unable to fully answer Andy's enquiry, which related to the precise route taken and if the explosive was transported via the Severn Tunnel, however, I trust the research undertaken thus far is of interest.

Provisions within the original 1875 Explosives Act at Section 3 titled : 'Substances to which this Act applies' states : -

This Act shall apply to gunpowder and other explosives as defined by this section.

The term " explosive " in this Act—

(1) Means gunpowder, nitro-glycerine, dynamite, gun-cotton, blasting powders, fulminate of mercury or of other metals, coloured fires, and every other substance, whether similar to those above mentioned or not, used or manufactured with a view to produce a practical effect by explosion or a pyrotechnic effect; and

(2) Includes fog-signals, fireworks, fuzes, rockets, percussion caps, detonators, cartridges, ammunition of all descriptions, and every adaptation or preparation of an explosive as above defined.

The earliest reference to explosive storage at Penarth Dock and The Explosives Act of 1875 was reported pending the expansion works of the Penarth Dock during which, it was reported, much blasting of the marl was necessary. (see chapter : The Dock Extension of 1883)