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Gunpowder Explosion Near Erith
- When
- 1 October 1864
- Where
- Erith, Kent
A 46½-ton gunpowder explosion on 1 October 1864 breached the river wall near Erith, threatening South London with flooding.
The explosion occurred on the Thames near Erith, which was then in Kent. The blast blew out the river wall, exposing large areas of South London to flooding at high tide. This incident was noted as a calamity narrowly averted, highlighting the vulnerability of the river defenses.
Sources
- Erith Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-06
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.