Last Alteration: Saturday 23 June 2018
Lafarge Cement (Northfleet)
Lafarge Cement (Northfleet)
The Shore, Northfleet, Kent, DA11 9AN
Formerly known as Blue Circle Cement
The cement works at Northfleet opened in 1970 by Blue Circle Industries and had the capacity to produce over a million tonnes of cement each year. It was taken other by Lafarge in 2002, becoming Lafarge Cement UK. The Northfleet works was closed down in 2008 and the site was used to keep the detritus from Crossrail development. The site is expected to be redeveloped as a mix of homes and leisure facilities, plus a dockside.
14 Apr 2009: Sean Baggaley: Demolition of the cement works has now begun. (The site is to become a dock, rather than open land.)
How to get here:
»
Rail: Northfleet - Exit the station and turn right onto Ebbsfleet Walk. Follow this to the end and then onto the footpath; this leads to the road to the tunnel entrance. +
»
Road: A2 - Exit the A2 at the junction with the A2260, and then head north towards Northfleet. When you reach the roundabout with the A226, turn left and follow it towards Ebbsfleet International visitor's parking. +
You can park at Ebbsfleet International's carpark. £1.00, for an hour.
Head out of the carpark back to the roundabout, then cross over and follow the pavement along to the next roundabout. Bear left and continue along as it passes under the railway bridge, and the tunnel is a little further in front of you.
This location is private and has no or limited access only. The site itself is private, but the tunnel entrance is publicly accessible from the Ebbsfleet side via the road/pavement.
Access: publicStatus: recognisableTunnel
The Ambassadors of Death (1)
Filmed: 3-4 Feb 1970
The Doctor arrives at the Space Control Centre.
Other nearby locations:
»
Bluewater (The Mutants). Road (3.1 miles, 8m) : Head north/west on the A226 until you reach Stone. At the roundabout turn
left (signposted Bluewater) and then follow the signs into the shopping centre. car park
»
John's Hole Quarry (The Dalek Invasion of Earth). Road (3.1 miles, 8m) : Head north/west on the A226 until you reach Stone. Continue along the
A226 and the quarry will be on the left-hand side (by park just after
Oak Road). For the east side of the quarry, best place to park is in Oak Road, off
London Road (A226) - the quarry runs alongside the park. For the south side,
it is easiest to park in Kirby Road, near the allotment - there is a footpath
by the allotment that leads to Clarendon Gardens, and from there walk to the
end of the road and turn left onto the A296, the quarry being on the left-hand
side.
»
Stone House Farm (caves) (The Mutants). Road (10.2 miles, 18m) : Head away from the cement works and onto Crete Hall Road. Turn right onto Rosherville Way and join the A2260 heading south towards the A2 and London. At the A2, head east towards Canterbury. At the junction where the A2 becomes the M2, instead take the A289 and follow it until the B2000; turn left and the caves are on the right-hand side past some cottages. Parking: roadside near Stone House Farm, opposite.
Additional locations as the crow flies:
»
Wrotham Quarry (The Dominators): 9.45 miles. 
»
Kingsnorth Industrial Estate (Inferno): 11.70 miles.
»
Chislehurst Caves (The Mutants): 12.04 miles.
In the News:
»
29 Sep 2012: Kent Online - "Doctor Who in Kent"
General Details:
»
10 Dec 2007: Dawn Moore of Lafarge Cement
kindly provided us with a photograph and brief update
on developments at the site: "The current Northfleet site was constructed in 1968/69, however
cement has been produced around the Northfleet site for almost 200
years. To the best of our current engineers' knowledge there were
some tunnels in that location prior to the 1960's but the ones we see
today were built, or at least substantially modified for the current
Works, so would probably have been constructed/modified around the
mid 60's.
"Due to the exhaustion of reserves Northfleet Works will shortly be
closing. The production of clinker ends in April next year and a
three year demolition programme will commence.
The site will be re-developed, as part of the Kent Thameside
regeneration project, with a mixture of industrial and residential
use. At this time I do not know how these future plans may affect the
tunnels."
»
14 Apr 2009: Sean Baggaley: There are, in fact, three tunnels (two were for rail) on the site. The one seen in the episode is on the road under Northfleet village and the railway. Road access is off a roundabout near Ebbsfleet International (opposite the "domestic" platforms). It can be seen on Google Maps' satellite view as a small road running just to the east of Northfleet station, past some gasometers and under the B2175. This is the primary access to the site and is even signed as "cement works" at the roundabout. The section under the railway embankment is a long bridge. Looking at the photo taken from the episode, my money's on the sequence being filmed looking north from the railway towards the tunnel beneath Northfleet.
Further links about the location:
»
Lafarge Cement - Details on the Blue Circle Cement works
»
21 Jun 2011: IanVisits - A blog item on the use of the site post-closure, with mention of the road tunnel's use in the show.
Related Stories
»
The Ambassadors of Death [3-4 Feb 1970]
Information, downloads, photographs and other media are provided for reference and for personal use only (planning visits etc.) - they remain the copyright of their respective authors and may not be duplicated on any other website or media without prior permission.
All screen captures are the copyright of the BBC and appear here as reference to illustrate the location in comparison with how it looked at the time of filming and the present day; no attempt is made to supercede this or any other copyright.
