content_output-040_7 (Q6069)

In England gunpowder does not appear to have been made or bought until the fourteenth century. The ingredients were usually separately purchased and mixed when required. Mr. Olliver, of Boklersberry, appears to have been one of the first dealers in explosives; for many years after the use of gunpowder had become general in war the quantities required were purchased abroad, and royal presents to the reigning sovereigns of England often included a barrel or more of gunpowder.