Nestled within the idyllic landscape of Crane Park, the ever-looming Shot Tower is a remnant of Whitton’s industrial past; this brick cylinder may not look like much, yet it is one of the last standing reminders of the Hounslow Gunpowder Mills.
The exact use of this tower is still speculated, though a general consensus seems to believe that it was used to manufacture lead grapeshot, clusters of metal projectiles that, when fired from a cannon, decimate infantry on the battlefield.
Allegedly, molten lead would be poured from high above in the tower, where it would fall into copper sieves, and as the lead dripped out it would fall into water, where it would quickly cool and then be collected as rough spheroids.
The Shot Tower was just one of the many components of the mills, which had been already well established prior to the 19th century, when the shot tower was built, with grain, tobacco, and vegetal oil mills built before the advent of the Gunpowder Works.
Now most of the surrounding structures of the Hounslow Gunpowder Mills around Hounslow Heath have been demolished, standing in their place are Crane Park and the largely residential Woodlawn Estate.
The Hounslow Gunpowder Mills also reached a degree of infamy following a series of abnormally large explosions in the 1700s, which, whilst years apart, were each fatal and destructive, occasionally levelling several mills at a time, and commonly causing glass to break from the concussive sound waves even at a great distance away in the neighbouring houses.
No longer an industrial zone, Crane Park has been transformed into a nature reserve and recreational park, giving many local endangered species a safe haven and the residents of Whitton and Heathfield a green space to enjoy any day; though the fascinating past which defines much of the area’s landscape and culture is still being brought to light.
