Scientific Industries. 467 



desolate strip of Essex Marshes into a place of national importance. 

 The success of these Docks led to the formation of the Royal Albert 

 Docks, which, after some delay, were opened in 1880, land having 

 been acquired in 1864. More than docks and improved railway 

 facilities were needed for factories, established in this centre, to 

 compete successfully with those in other parts of the country. An 

 ample and cheap supply of coal was a sine qua non, and this was 

 met by the laying down of improved coaling appliances and loading 

 wharves, by means of which sea-borne coal could be discharged from 

 the colliers rapidly and cheaply. Other coaling stations have been 

 established as the need arose. 



The further extension of the South Eastern Railway to Dartford, 

 by way of Erith, marks further industrial progress in the district 

 south of the Thames ; but later railway extension does not appear 

 to have had any great effect. 



Apart from paper mills at St. Mary Cray and St. Paul's Cray 

 there are no industries of note in the southern portion of the denned 

 district, the natural tendency being to locate the factories on or 

 near the banks of the Thames, so as to get all the advantages 

 accruing from water transport. 



It is interesting to note here that the rolling and slitting of iron 

 was first established in England at Dartford, by Godfrey Box, in 

 1590. The manufacture of iron was an important industry in Kent 

 at one time, ironstone being found in the Wealden clays ; but the 

 lack of fuel caused the last Wealden furnace to be put out in 1828, 

 and iron manufacture now ranks as one of the dead industries of the 

 district. (The possible development of the Kent coal fields in the 

 future may once again bring Kent into prominence as an industrial 

 centre). Dartford stands out, also, as one of the first places in 

 England where paper-making was introduced, Spielman beginning 

 its manufacture there in 1588, and the sixteenth century is, there- 

 fore, a remarkable and important one in the industrial history of 

 Dartford. 



