Sheerness Dockyard
HM Dockyard, Sheerness | |
---|---|
Part of Admiralty (after 1832). | |
Condition | Part-preserved |
Site history | |
In use | 1665-1960 |
Fate | Now in use as a commercial port |
Events | Raid on the Medway, 1667 |
Sheerness Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the Sheerness peninsula, at the mouth of the River Medway in Kent. It was opened in the 1660s and closed in 1960.
Location
In the
In order to operate more effectively, the Navy Board began to explore options for developing a new dockyard at the mouth of the Medway, able to be accessed by ships directly from the North Sea and Thames Estuary. Possible locations were explored on both the Isle of Grain and the Isle of Sheppey; the Board decided on a location at the north-west tip of Sheppey alongside a derelict 16th-century blockhouse (built to supplement the Henrician defences of the Thames): Sheerness.[2]
Seventeenth-century origins
The first dockyard and planned fortification
In March 1665, following a declaration of
By July that same year, Pett had drawn up plans for a proper dockyard to be built on the site. Samuel Pepys, who was Clerk of the Acts of the Navy Board, issued authorisation for the works to begin and later recorded visiting Sheerness to measure out the site for the new dockyard.[5] The plan was for a rectangular compound, containing a mast house, a store shed and a smith's forge, together with houses for the carpenter and the storekeeper, and two gated slips on the river side. By November the yard was operational, and several large ships were sent there for repairs during the winter (albeit the yard struggled due to a lack of workers and materials).[3]
Pett had further plans for the development of the site, including a dry dock in place of the careening facility; he also advised fortifying the area to the north of the yard. Progress in this regard was slow, however, and it was not until early 1667 that the
The Dutch Raid and its aftermath
The situation was overtaken, however, by the escalating Anglo-Dutch conflict: on 10 June 1667 the still-incomplete fort was easily captured, together with the adjacent dockyard, by the
A Parliamentary report on the causes of the humiliating raid concluded that it 'was chiefly occasioned by the neglect of finishing the fort at Sheerenesse'.[3] After the raid, the authorities moved quickly to repair the damage and complete the fortification of Sheerness.[3]
The second dockyard and completed fortifiation
Work on the fortifications was undertaken swiftly in accordance with de Gomme's designs: the Tudor blockhouse (which became the
Work then began on the dockyard. A scarcity of available housing, the absence of a nearby water supply and the likelihood of contracting
In 1677 a number of dockyard-related buildings were constructed within the walls of the fort. Beyond the gatehouse was an avenue, with a double row of houses for the senior officers of the yard on one side, and a large quadrangular naval store yard on the other.[3] Within the fort, the Navy's buildings occupied a sizeable area close to the gatehouse, while the Ordnance Board had its own store yard and associated buildings to the north. The parade ground and barracks for the military garrison lay to the east, at the end of the aforementioned avenue.[3]
Sheerness Dockyard initially functioned as an extension to that at Chatham and it was overseen by Chatham's resident Commissioner for much of its early history (until the 1790s). It was conceived primarily for the routine repair and maintenance of naval ships; no shipbuilding took place there (with one small exception) until 1691.[10] While minor repairs were undertaken at Sheerness, ships requiring major work were usually sent on to Chatham, Woolwich or Deptford. Sheerness also functioned at this time as a cruiser base, for vessels patrolling the North Sea and the eastern reaches of the Channel.[4]
Eighteenth-century developments
Construction of amenities in and around the dockyard continued into the eighteenth century. The first
The constricted area of land available to the dockyard caused problems for its operation and development. Several
Outer fortifications
In 1796, following the development of Blue Town, a wider area of land (including the new houses) was enclosed behind a bastioned trace, which was further strengthened during the Napoleonic Wars of the following century. In addition, a defensive straight canal had been dug south of Mile Town in 1782, two miles in length, stretching from the Medway to the Thames.[8]
Workers' housing
Very unusually, at Sheerness the Navy Board provided accommodation for the civilian workers of the dockyard and their families (in the hope of attracting people to work there). There being no established settlement in the vicinity of Sheerness, most of the workers were initially housed temporarily in hulks moored nearby. In the 1680s the Board was petitioned by the officers of the yard to make 'some provision of habitations' for the workers and their families, who were 'suffering through the unwholesomeness of the place'.[4] The Board acceded to the request and soon afterwards built four barrack-like lodgings for workers (such as shipwrights and artificers) alongside the naval store yard within the walls of the fort. Further accommodation was provided on the hulks which functioned as breakwaters on the foreshore.[4]
In 1734 the workers' lodgings were rebuilt in brick; they would again be rebuilt in 1794. By 1774 nearly a thousand people were accommodated in the lodgings and the hulks.[4] When John Wesley visited in 1767, he described the latter as follows: 'In the Dock adjoining to the Fort, there are six old men of war. These are divided into small tenements, forty, fifty or sixty in a ship, with little chimneys and windows, and each of these contained a family. In one of them where we called, a man and his wife and six little children lived; and yet all the ship was sweet and tolerably clean, sweeter than most sailing ships I have been in'.[4] In 1802 the workers and their families were evicted from the hulks, which by then had gained a reputation of being 'a common resort of Whores and Rogues, by day and by night'. In the 1820s, provision of accommodation within the fort was also discontinued; by this time cheaper housing was to be had nearby in the civilian settlements of Blue Town and Mile Town.[4]
Blue Town and Mile Town
By 1738, dockyard construction workers had begun to build their own houses close to the ramparts, using materials they were allowed to take from the yard.
The Great Rebuilding
By the early nineteenth century, the old hulks underpinning the reclaimed land of the Dockyard were seriously decaying and the site was becoming increasingly unstable.
After the end of the
In all the project cost £2,586,083 and was largely complete by 1830. Sheerness was unusual among Dockyards in the unity and clarity of its design, having been built in one phase of construction, of a single architectural style according to a unified plan (rather than developing piecemeal over time).[16]
-
The northern part of the rebuilt Dockyard as seen from the river, 1850: (l-r) Garrison Point, (receiving hulk), Admiralty House, covered Slip, (a schooner), flagstaff, the Dockyard Offices, the entrance to the Small Basin and part of the Victualling Store; in the foreground a naval picket boat.
-
The southern part of the rebuilt Dockyard as seen from the river, c.1835: (l-r) part of the Dockyard Offices, the Victualling Store, Quadrangle Storehouse, covered No.2 Dock, Working Mast House, the new Town Pier, Blue Town.
Layout
The site was approximately triangular in shape when viewed from the air: Rennie's perimeter wall (1824–31)[17] was built south-east from the Boat Basin (at the northernmost tip of the yard) running parallel with the Thames Estuary foreshore as far as the main gate, after which the wall (as can still be seen)[18] turned southwards past the officers' houses, before turning sharply and continuing in a westerly direction as far as the river (though deviating south again at one point to accommodate the mast houses at the southern end of the site); the river then made up the third side of the triangle.[19]
The principal buildings and structures were laid out along the bank of the Medway; from north (i.e. Garrison Point) to South, these were:
- The OrdnanceStore and Wharf (a self-contained compound with its own basin, accessed via the Boat Basin).
- The Boat Basin, providing access to:[20]
- No.1 (Building) Slip 200ft long
- No.5 (Frigate) Dock (1819) 176ft long (but converted from a 'frigate dock' to a 'graving dock' in 1825)
- No.4 (Frigate) Dock (1819) 177ft long
- The Working Boat House (with boat slip giving access to the basin)
- The Dockyard Offices (1821)
- The Small Basin (used by supply craft), providing access to:
- The Quadrangle Storehouse (1824–29; a landmark five-storey building topped by a clock tower)
- The Victualling Storehouse (1826; facing the Offices across the entrance to the Small Basin)
- The Great Basin (its entrance placed off-centre leaving room for a sizeable set of masting sheers), providing access to:
- No.3 Dock (1819) 225ft long
- No.2 Dock (1819) 225ft long
- No.1 Dock (1819) 225ft long
- A pair of Mast Houses (1826) with a Mast Pond between them.[21]
The Great Basin, with its three dry docks, formed the Dockyard's centre of operations; they were designed to accommodate
Behind the three larger dry docks (Nos.1-3) were a pair of
Behind the Quadrangular Storehouse, and equal to it in length, the
At the east end of the site, near the chapel, were grouped the main residential buildings pertaining to the senior officers of the Dockyard:
- Dockyard House (1825) for the Captain Superintendent;[25]
- Dockyard Terrace (1827) for the Commander of the Dockyard and other senior officers;[26]
- Naval Terrace (1833) for more junior offices;[27]
- Boatswain's House (1826) for the boatswain.[28]
The Chapel (and the Naval Terrace alongside it) were placed outside the perimeter wall of the Dockyard.
The area between the residences at the east end and the basins and docks to the west was initially kept clear, in large part, to allow for storage of timber; though the artesian well (dated, on the Well House, to 1800) which had so transformed life in the old Dockyard, was located here in relative isolation. In addition, the yard's Pay Office with its strong room (1828) was placed in this area, not too far from the main gate.[29]
The Garrison and fortifications
The land to the north of the rebuilt Dockyard, lying between the perimeter wall and the Estuary foreshore, was almost entirely given over to the Garrison, which had been displaced by the rebuilding. On a long narrow strip of land was built officers' accommodation, guard houses, barrack blocks, a parade ground and (within the bastion at the southern end of the site) a gunpowder magazine.[30]
Along the estuary foreshore, a further line of fortification was constructed, connecting de Gomme's defences at the northern end with those south of Blue Town. All along the foreshore, a series of guns were placed; and in 1850 a new
Further south, the defensive canal (now known as Queenborough Lines) was also strengthened with a gun battery at either end.[8]
Admiralty House
Between what became known as Garrison Point and the Garrison itself stood Admiralty House, a large residence built in 1829 for the
Mechanisation
Before the rebuilding of Sheerness was complete, the Admiralty was beginning to invest in steam propulsion for warships, with the opening of its first Steam Factory at Woolwich Dockyard in 1831. This marked the start of an era of fast-paced technological change, and in the 1840s massive expansion took place at Portsmouth and Devonport to provide new basins and docks, which were served by factories, foundries, boiler-makers, fitting-shops and other facilities for mechanical engineering. The Royal Navy was still for the most part a sailing Navy at this stage, with steam providing auxiliary power rather than the main means of propulsion; this was to change over the course of the next thirty years.[7]
The rebuilt Sheerness, which had been designed primarily for the repair and maintenance of sailing ships, soon found itself having to adapt to the changing demands of steam technology. Most particularly, because Chatham Dockyard was not expanded and adapted for steam until the 1860s, Sheerness found itself under pressure to provide interim facilities for repair and maintenance of steam-powered ships based in the Nore. This became an immediate priority with the outbreak of the Crimean War: so in 1854, a new Steam Factory was built 'in haste' at Sheerness by Godfrey Greene, with the second mast house being converted into an engineering foundry and fitting shop. By 1868 just under 500 men and boys were employed in the factory; sited in the south part of the Dockyard, it was served by its own entrance (later called the South Gate) in the perimeter wall.[2] Also in 1854, No.1 Dock and No.3 Dock were both lengthened to accommodate the larger ships now coming in for repair.[7]
The main Smithery, which stood behind the Quadrangle Store, had been provided with steam-powered hammers in 1846, and steam technology began to be used in various other parts of the yard; for instance, in 1856-8 a new steam-powered
The introduction of
Shipbuilding at Sheerness
In 1824, the
List of ships built at Sheerness
Beginning with a 7-gun ketch named Transporter in 1677,[3] over 100 ships were built at Sheerness Dockyard over a 225-year period, including the following:
- HMS Sheerness (1691)
- HMS Medway (1693)
- HMS Newcastle (1704)
- HMS Scarborough (1711)
- HMS Montreal (1761)
- HMS Solebay (1763)
- HMS Winchelsea (1764)
- HMS Carysfort (1766)
- HMS Bristol (1775)
- HMS Polyphemus (1782)
- HMS Mermaid (1784)
- HMS Daedelus (1826)
- HMS Vestal (1833)
- HMS Salamander (1832) - one of the first paddle steamers in the Royal Navy
- HMS Calliope (1837)
- HMS Acheron (1838)
- HMS Rattler (1843) - the first warship to use screw propulsion
- HMS Miranda (1851)
- HMS Clio (1858)
- HMS Diamond (1874) - the last purely wooden ship to be built at the dockyard
- HMS Gannet (1878) - the only surviving Sheerness-built vessel
- HMS Kingfisher (1879)
- HMS Pylades (1884) - the last classic corvette built for the Royal Navy
- HMS Buzzard (1887)
- HMS Goldfinch (1889)
- HMS Brilliant (1891)
- HMS Torch (1894)
- HMS Pelorus (1896)
- HMS Shearwater (1900)
- HMS Fantome (1901)
- HMS Clio (1903)
- HMS Cadmus (1903) - the last warship to be launched at Sheerness
In the early 20th century, the Admiralty decided that shipbuilding should cease at Sheerness to allow the yard to focus on a new specialised role: refitting torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers. Dry docks 4 and 5 were accordingly lengthened in 1906 to enable them to accommodate the latter, and in 1912 the roof over the old shipbuilding dock (No.2 Dock) was demolished. This specialised work continued through World War I. After the war, to keep the yard from closing, it was occasionally sent vessels built by private contractors that required completion (such as HMS Thracian and the submarine HMS L27). During World War Two, when a flotilla of minesweepers was based at Sheerness, a number of motor-launches were built at the yard; but, as in the previous conflict, the main business of the yard was refit and repair of ships on active service.[2]
Education and training
Barracks, Gunnery School and HMS Wildfire
In 1854, a wing of the Victualling Store, which stood alongside the entrance to the Small Basin, was converted to serve as a Naval Barracks: a unique pre-20th century example of a shore building in Britain being used as a
Then, in 1892, the building as a whole was repurposed and reopened as a Royal Naval Gunnery School, providing specialist training in
In 1937, the same building again found a new use, this time being commissioned as a boys' training establishment: HMS Wildfire. It remained in commission until 1950; after closure, the 'Wildfire Building' (as it had come to be known) again reverted to providing accommodation until shortly before the closure of the Dockyard.[2]
Dockyard apprentices
As at other Royal Dockyards, a school for
Closure and aftermath
In February 1958 it was announced in Parliament that Sheerness Dockyard would close.[36] The garrison was decommissioned in 1959 and on 31 March 1960 the closing ceremony took place for the Dockyard; the dockyard closure led to all 2,500 dockyard employees being made redundant.[5] Once the Royal Navy had vacated Sheerness dockyard, the Medway Port Authority took over the site for commercial use.[37]
In 1959, the First Lord of the Admiralty had announced that 'Seventeen residences and eight other buildings, including the quadrangle, the old Admiralty House and the dockyard church, [had] been listed under Section 30 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, as buildings of special architectural and historical interest.'[38] Nevertheless, several of these very significant Dockyard buildings were demolished in the years that followed, including Admiralty House in 1964 and the Quadrangular Storehouse in 1978. The Small and Great Basins were also filled with rubble and covered over in the 1970s, along with Nos.1-3 Dry Docks, and to the east the former Garrison area was completely levelled.[2]
A high priority was placed on finding new employment for the local workforce. From 1974-1994
Sheerness Dockyard today
The commercial port is currently operated by The Peel Group under the name London Medway.[40] As the local port authority, their Medway Ports division controls navigation on the River Medway from a headquarters in Garrison Point Fort.[40]
Legacy
50 listed structures were destroyed at Sheerness in the 20 years following its closure;[41] but while much of the former Dockyard has been lost, much still remains, and that has received greater recognition and attention in recent years. Historic England describes 'the whole dockyard' as 'a notable feat of marine engineering, with all the masonry carried on piles, represent[ing] the greatest piece of dock engineering by one of the great engineers of the C19'.[42]
A campaign by Save Britain's Heritage saw the former dockyard placed on the World Monuments Fund watch list in 2010, noting that: 'Despite terrible losses, the site still contains a wealth of historic buildings. The problem now is that a majority of these structures stand empty and decaying.'[41]
Much of the former residential quarter of the Dockyard had been sold to a
In 2013, the trust also acquired the former Dockyard Church, which had been gutted by fire in 2001. A new charity was formed (the Sheerness Dockyard Preservation Trust) with a view to restoring the building and using it, among other things, to put Rennie's 1825 model of the Dockyard on public display.[43] A National Lottery Heritage Fund grant in 2019 enabled the redevelopment by Hugh Broughton Architects to commence.[44] Work got underway in November 2020, with a scheduled opening date of September 2022;[45] only a fraction of the model is to be put on display, however.[46][47]
Uncertainty remains, however, as to the future of other listed buildings within the former dockyard, above all:
- the Grade I listed Boat Store, described as being 'of international significance in the development of modern architecture' due to its innovatory all-metal rigid frame construction.[48]
In 2015 it was placed by the Victorian Society on its top ten list of endangered buildings[49] and it remains on the nation's Heritage at Risk Register.[50]
Along with the Boat Store a good number of other listed and unlisted buildings and structures survive, several of which are now also judged to have been innovatory in their use of metal as a construction material, for example:
- The Grade II* listed Boat Basin with its docks and slip, including No.4 Dock: thanks to its surviving iron gates 'a uniquely complete example of early C19 dock technology, which Rennie perfected and refined'.[42]
- The Grade II* listed former Working Mast House, its cast iron frame 'part of an important strain in the early C19 development of metal and fire-proof structural systems, devised by Holl... One of the last surviving dock buildings from Rennie's planned dockyard, and one of only two examples of a once-common naval building type'.[51]
- The Grade II* listed Archway Block,'of considerable interest as a fire-proof integrated timber workshop within the elder Rennie's plan for the completely rebuilt yard. Forms a central part of a unique planned early C19 dockyard'.[22]
- The Grade II* listed North Saw Pits building, 'an example of the experimental iron construction developed by Rennie and Holl and pioneered in the dockyards. An important example of a free-standing iron frame, and forming part of a unique early C19 dockyard'.[52]
In 2016 the former Garrison Hospital of 1856, which had been threatened with demolition, was listed for being of special architectural and historic interest.[53] Built on one of the defensive bastions outside the garrison gate, it latterly served as offices for the steelworks and is now owned by Peel Ports.[54]
Administration of the dockyard
Resident Commissioner, Sheerness Dockyard
The Royal Dockyards were overseen by
- Captain Harry Harmood May 1795 - August 1796 ('Extra Commissioner of the Navy, resident at Sheerness')[60]
- Captain Francis John Hartwell, September 1796 - June 1799
- Captain Isaac Coffin, June 1799 - April 1804.
- Captain the Hon. George Grey April 1804 – February 1807
- Captain William Brown February 1807 – August 1811
- Captain William Granville Lobb, August 1811 – July 1814
- Captain the Hon. Courtenay Boyle July 1814 – May 1822
Captain/Commodore/Admiral superintendents
In 1832 the Navy Board was abolished. In place of the Board's Commissioners, the Admiralty appointed Superintendents to oversee the Dockyards. Post holders included:[61]
- Captain Charles Wise: July 1860-April 1865
- Captain William King-Hall: April 1865-March 1869
- Captain the Hon. Arthur A.L.P. Cochrane: April 1869-May 1870
- Captain William G. Luard: May 1870-January 1875
- Rear-Admiral the Hon. Fitzgerald A.C. Foley: January 1875-January 1877
- Captain Thomas Brandreth: January 1877-January 1879
- Captain Theodore M. Jones: January 1879-January 1883
- Captain John O. Hopkins: January–April 1883
- Captain William Codrington: April 1883-July 1885
- Captain Henry F. Nicholson: July 1885-July 1886
- Captain Sir Robert H. More-Molyneux: July 1886-June 1888
- Captain Charles G. Fane: June 1888-August 1890
- Captain Richard Duckworth-King: August 1890-January 1892
- Captain Armand T. Powlett: January 1892-January 1894
- Captain John Fellowes: January 1894-January 1895
- Captain John C. Burnell: January 1895-January 1898
- Captain Andrew K. Bickford: January 1898-June 1899
- Captain Reginald F.H. Henderson: June 1899-June 1901
- Captain Gerald C. Langley: June 1901-August 1902
- Captain Walter H.B. Graham: August 1902-January 1905
- Captain Frederick L. Campbell: January 1905-January 1906
- Rear-Admiral James Startin: February 1906-May 1907
- Captain John Casement: May 1907-July 1908
- Captain Robert H. Johnston Stewart: July 1908-December 1909
- Captain Henry H. Torlesse: December 1909-December 1911
- Rear-Admiral Robert J. Prendergast: December 1911-September 1915
- Rear-Admiral Edmund Hyde Smith: September 1915-April 1919
- Captain F. Shirley Litchfield-Speer: April 1919-March 1922
- Captain Herbert N. Garnett: March 1922-February 1923
- Captain Oliver Backhouse: February 1923-February 1925
- Captain Frederick C. Fisher: February 1925-April 1927
- Captain Dashwood F. Moir: April 1927-April 1929
- Captain Benjamin W. Barrow: April 1929-July 1930
- Captain Hugh D. Hamilton: July 1930-July 1932
- Captain Robert S. MacFarlan: July 1932-July 1934
- Captain James V.V. Magrane: July 1934-September 1935
- Captain Henry B. Maltby: September 1935-December 1937
- Captain Hugh R. Marrack: December 1937-July 1943
- Rear-Admiral Colin S. Thomson: July 1943-October 1945
- Commodore Jack T. Borrett: October 1945-August 1948
- Captain Hubert V.P. McClintock: August 1948-September 1950
- Captain Villiers N. Surtees: September 1950-September 1953
- Captain Sydney J.S. Boord: September 1953-November 1955
- Captain Francis R. Main: November 1955-October 1957
- Captain Paul M.B. Chavasse: October 1957-March 1960
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- ^ Laird Clowes, William (1898–1900). The Royal Navy A History from the Earliest Times to the Present Volume 5. London England: Sampson Low Marston and Company. pp. 4–5.
- ^ Harrison, Simon. "Resident Commissioner at Sheerness Dockyard". threedecks.org. Simon Harrison 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ^ The Royal Kalendar [...] for the year 1796. London: J. Debrett. 1796. p. 134.
- ^ Mackie, Colin. "Royal Navy Senior appointments from 1865: Superintendents Sheerness Dockyard" (PDF). gulabin.com. Colin Mackie, pp.112-113. Scotland, 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
External links
- Historic England: a gallery of photos, mostly from c.1950 (showing several buildings and structures including the Quadrangle Storehouse, Archway Block, docks, basins, residences, the boat store, offices, Wildfire building, guard houses and well house).
- Peel Ports: owners of the former Dockyard
- Sheerness Dockyard Trust
- Peel Ports Operations Manager gives a video tour showing some of the surviving buildings, including the Mast House, Pump House, Frame Bending Shop, Boat Store, Garrison Point Fort, Officers' Residences, Police House, Pay Office, Saw Mill and Technical School.
- A Geometrical Plan, & West Elevation of His Majesty’s Dock-Yard and Garrison, at Sheerness, with the Ordnance Wharfe, &c., dated 1755 (Pierre-Charles Canot after Thomas Milton and John Cleveley the Elder).
- Topographic model of the Royal Dockyard at Sheerness, Kent, dating from c. 1774 (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich).