The settlement of Barwick, to the north of Great Barwick, was known as The Outpost. In 1888, the Smokeless Powder Company (S.P.C.), was founded by James Dalziel Dougall Jr, the son of the famous Glaswegian gunsmith J. D. Dougall, took a 99-year lease for 126 acres around The Outpost, from the Youngsbury Estate. The site's name was changed from The Outpost to Barwick and Barwick was formed as a "factory hamlet". S.P.C was to be the first modern producer of smokeless powders for the munitions industry. As stated in the Los Angeles Herald on 11 November 1892: "the only works of the kind in the kingdom". Its Head Office was based at Dashwood House, New Broad Street, London. It also had American agents based in New York and Boston.