Woolwich Dockyard
HM Dockyard, Woolwich | |
---|---|
Woolwich, NW Kent | |
Admiralty (1832–1869). | |
Other site facilities | The Gun Wharf, The Ropeyard and The Steam Factory |
Site history | |
In use | 1512–1869 |
Woolwich Dockyard (formally H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich) was an English
History
Origins
Woolwich Dockyard was founded by King
Early history
The two dry docks were rebuilt in the early 17th century (the first of several rebuildings) and the western dock was expanded, enabling it to accommodate two ships, end to end. In the years that followed, the dockyard was expanded; its facilities included
The Gun Wharf
As at other Royal Dockyards, the Ordnance Office maintained a Gun Wharf at Woolwich for storage and provision of guns and ammunition for the ships based there. The Gun Wharf was sited east of Bell Water Gate (where there is now a car park next to the Waterfront Leisure Centre). It was here that Woolwich Dockyard had been founded in 1512 and the Great Harry was built in 1515; when the dockyard had moved to its new, permanent site in the 1540s, the old wharf, crane and storehouse had been given over to storage of heavy ordnance and other items. Gun carriage repair was also undertaken on site. Later, use of the Gun Wharf was shared with the nearby Royal Ropeyard, which maintained a storehouse there for hemp and other materials. The wharf and its buildings were improved and rebuilt at regular points through the 16th and 17th centuries; as late as 1664 a large new brick storehouse was provided "to lodge ships' carriages in".
The wharf was still subject to frequent flooding, however, and from the 1650s the Board of Ordnance began to make use of open land at Tower Place, to the east of the Gun Wharf, as a site for proving and storing cannons and other large guns. Known as 'The Warren', this was the beginning of what would later become the Woolwich Royal Arsenal. The Ordnance Office withdrew from Gun Wharf in 1671, but the Ropeyard continued to make use of the wharf and its associated storehouses into the 19th century.
The Ropeyard
In the 1570s the Crown established a naval
Second golden age
The fortunes of the yard had waned toward the end of the seventeenth century; in 1688 its work was valued at £9,669, in contrast to nearby Deptford (£15,760), not to mention the (by now much larger) Royal Dockyards at Portsmouth (£35,045), and Chatham (£44,940).[2] In the first half of the eighteenth century, however, it gained a renewed momentum: the site doubled in size, as did the workforce, and even in the first decade of the 1700s there were more ships launched from Woolwich than from any other English yard. Many buildings were built (or rebuilt) at this time, now mostly in brick. On newly acquired and reclaimed land to the east, three new slips were built and a new mast pond was created, along with adjacent mast houses and boat sheds; a sizeable rigging house was also built here. Alongside the Great Storehouse an equally large building, housing both a sail loft and a mould loft, was constructed in 1740. Meanwhile, land acquired to the west enabled a new terrace of officers' houses to be built in the early 1750s.
The yard was further expanded westwards in the 1780s, again almost doubling in size. Much of the area of the expanded dockyard was preserved as open ground for storage of timber, with rows of wooden
Later, Shipbuilding continued in earnest during the
The Steam Factory and last years of the Dockyard
From 1831, Woolwich found a new lease of life as a specialist yard for
Woolwich retained its primacy as the Navy's steam engineering yard through the 1840s, but following the establishment of large-scale steam yards at
Administration of the dockyard
From 1630 until 1688 the Master Shipwright was the key official at the dockyard until the introduction of resident commissioners by the Navy Board after which he became deputy to the resident commissioner. The Commissioner of the Navy at Woolwich Dockyard held a seat and a vote on the Navy Board in London. In 1748 the dockyard was managed directly by the Navy Board,. In 1832 the post of commissioner was replaced by the post of captain-superintendent, who was invested with the same power and authority as the former commissioners, "except in matters requiring an Act of Parliament to be submitted by the Commissioner of the Navy". On 5 September 1971 all Flag Officers of the Royal Navy holding positions of Admiral Superintendents at Royal Dockyards were restyled as Port Admirals.
Master shipwright, Woolwich Dockyard
Post holders included:[6]
- Peter Pett, 1630–1652
- Christopher Pett, 1652–1668
- Jonas Shish, 1668–1675
- Phineas Pett, 1675–1678
- Thomas Shish, 1678–1685
- Joseph Lawrence, 1686–1697
- Samuel Miller, 1697–1699
- William Lee, 1700–1701
- Joseph Allin, November–March 1705
- Richard Stacey, 1705–1709
- Jacob Ackworth, 1709–1714
- John Naish, 1714–1715
- John Hayward, 1715–1727
- John Hayward, 1727–1741
- John Holland, 1742–1745
- Thomas Fellowes, 1746–1752
- Thomas Slade Thomas, May 1752 – June 1752
- Adam Hayes, June 1752 – February 1753
- Edward Allin, March 1753 – December 1755
- Israel Pownoll, December 1755 – May 1762
- Joseph Harris, June 1762 – May 1767.
- William Gray, July 1767 – July 1773
- Nicholas Phillipps, 1773–1778
- George White, January–April 1779
- John Jenner, April 1779 – December 1782
- Henry Peake, December 1782 – November 1785
- Martin Ware, December 1785 – March 1787
- John Nelson, March 1787 – March 1790
- William Rule, April–August 1790
- John Tovery, 1793–1801
- Edward Sison, 1801–1816
- Henry Canham, April 1816 – July 1826
- Oliver Lang, 1826–1853
- William M. Rice, April 1853–1859
- George Turner, July 1859–1866
Post holders included:[7][8][9][10][11]
- Baltasar St Mitchell, 1688–1702
- Henry Greenhill, 1702–1744
- Thomas Whorwood, 1744–1745
- Edward Falkingham, 1745–1746
- James Compton, 1746–1747
- William Davies, 1747–1748
Note: From 1748 to 1806 the yard was managed directly by the Navy Board. - Captain Charles Cunningham, 1806–1828 (Charles Cunningham was also commissioner at Chatham in March 1828).
Captains and Commodores Superintendent, Woolwich Dockyard
Post holders included:[7][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]
- Captain Samuel Warren, C.B., 1828–1838
- Captain Phipps Hornby, C.B., 1838–1841
- Captain (Commodore from 1844) Sir Francis A. Collier, C.B., 1841–1846
- Commodore Sir James. J. G. Bremer, K.C.B., K.C.H., 1846–1848
- Commodore Henry Eden, 1848–1853
- Commodore John Shepherd, 1853-58
- Commodore the Hon. James Robert Drummond, C.B., 1858-1861
- Commodore Sir F. W. E. Nicholson, Bart, 1861-1864
- Commodore Hugh Dunlop, C.B., 1864-1866
- Commodore William Edmonstone, 1866-1869
Notable ships launched at the dockyard
- 1512–14 – Henri Grâce à Dieu(Great Harry); flagship of Henry VIII
- 1557–59 – Elizabeth Jonas (the Elizabeth); fought against the Armada in 1588; rebuilt in 1597–98; broken up in 1618
- 1586 – Vanguard – the first Royal Navy ship to bear this name
- 1608 – Ark Royal – a rebuilding
- 1610 – HMS Prince Royal
- 1613 – Defiance – a rebuilding
- 1615 – Merhonour – a rebuilding
- 1616 – Sir Walter Raleigh
- 1617 – Rainbow – a rebuilding
- 1631 – HMS Vanguard – a rebuilding
- 1637 – HMS Sovereign of the Seas; first-rate ship of the line, ordered by Charles I
- 1655 – Naseby, later renamed HMS Royal Charles
- 1658 – Richard, later renamed HMS Royal James
- 1670 – HMS Saint Andrew; first-rate ship of the line, later renamed HMS Royal Anne
- 1701 – HMS Royal Sovereign; first-rate ship of the line
- 1751 – circumnavigatedthe globe twice
- 1756 – HMS Royal George; first-rate ship of the line; her sinking in 1782 was one of the worst disasters in Royal Navy history – around 800 lives were lost
- 1783 – Port Royal, Jamaicain 1793
- 1805 – HMS Ocean; second-rate ship of the line, flagship of Lord Collingwood
- 1809 – HMS Macedonian; frigate captured by USS United States during the War of 1812
- 1814 – HMS Nelson; a 126-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy
- 1818 – HMS Talavera; third-rate ship of the line
- 1820 – HMS Beagle; ship used on naturalist Charles Darwin's famous voyage
- 1846 – HMS Niger, ship used for trials to prove the superiority of screw propulsion
- 1852 – HMS Agamemnon, the first British battleship to be designed and built from the keel up with installed steam power
- 1854 – HMS Royal Albert, screw steamer with 131 guns
- 1868 – HMS Repulse, the last wooden battleship constructed for the Royal Navy
- 1868 – HM Floating Dry Dock 8,200 tonnes [Constructed of iron for HM Dockyard Bermuda]
Closure and aftermath
Woolwich Dockyard finally closed in 1869;[23] however, although the easternmost part of the site was sold, everything west of No. 5 Slip (i.e. over 90% of the area) was retained by the War Office[2] (which continued to refer to it as 'Woolwich Dockyard' and 'Royal Dockyard, Woolwich' until relinquishing ownership of the site a century later).
The eastern area today known as Mast Quay was sold by auction in 1872. Royal Dockard Wharf was used by a timber and slate merchant, E. Arnold & Co, in the 1870s. By 1919, the site was occupied by W.R. Cunis Ltd, owners of dredgers, tugs and barges, which used the wharves and slips for repairing their vessels. Cunis later (1971) formed Cubow Ltd, a joint venture with Hay's Wharf Ltd, to build boats, including substantial sailing vessels of up to 1,000 tons, a 1973 fishing trawler later chartered by the Ministry of Defence for use as a minesweeper (HMS David), a cargo vessel (Ambience), the Naticia (a London leisure cruise boat) and the Beagle, still in use around the Galápagos Islands in 2023. The area was last used for boat repair work in the 1990s.[24]
War Office use of the site
After closure, much of the retained land went on to be used as storage space for the
From 1878 part of the Dockyard was given over for the
In 1889 an Inspectorate of Royal Engineer Stores (IRES) was established at Woolwich Dockyard (an early example of independent quality assurance), which had 'custody of a complete set of sealed patterns for all items of Royal Engineer equipment' and responsibility for 'the preparation of detailed specifications to govern manufacture'.[29] It remained based in the Dockyard,[30] and was later renamed the Inspectorate of Engineers and Signal Stores (IESS) in 1936, and the Inspectorate of Electrical and Mechanical Equipment (IEME) in 1941. The Chief Inspector of General Stores (later styled Chief Inspector of Equipment and Stores) was also based there from the 1890s, as was the Superintending Engineer and Constructor of Shipping (who supervised, across various different shipyards, the construction of vessels for the War Department Fleet).[31]
During the
Following the outbreak of the Second World War, stores and facilities were removed from Woolwich Dockyard in an attempt to protect them from
Gradual military withdrawal
In 1926 the western part of the site was sold to the
Redevelopment
Thereafter the older part of the dockyard was turned into a housing estate by Greenwich London Borough Council in the early 1970s. In the 1980s and 90s the Thames Path was extended to the area. Various housing projects have encroached on the historic character of the area. Two towers with luxury apartments were built at Mast Quay around 2005, with even taller towers being projected in 2015.[2] The second phase of Mast Quay was completed in late 2022 and comprised towers of 23, 11, nine and six storeys, but differed markedly from what had originally been proposed. The developer, Comer Homes Group, proposed revisions to the design in December 2022 when construction was nearly finished.[40] However, the build-to-rent development had "26 main deviations to the original planning permission" granted in 2012, and in September 2023, Greenwich Council ordered Comer Homes to demolish the blocks.[41][42] Comer said it would appeal against the enforcement notice.[43]
Heritage
On Woolwich Church Street, a late 18th-century guard house and police office with neoclassical features stand alongside the former dockyard gates. Nearby, the former dockyard administration building now serves as the Clockhouse Community Centre; it dates from 1778 to 1784.[44] Closer to the river, a couple of closed off docks have been preserved (and partly rebuilt) as a reminder of the area's marine significance. Two shipbuilding slips have also survived, either side of the new Mast Quay apartment blocks, and a pair of antique guns have been mounted on the quayside where a Royal Marines gun battery formerly stood.[2]
Surviving industrial buildings include parts of the old factory wall along Woolwich Church Street and remnants of the Steam Factory with its prominent chimney nearby. The original factory building of 1838 still stands on the south side of Ruston Road, although only at around two-thirds of its original length of 444 feet (135 m). When built, it housed a complex of boiler shops, a foundry, fitting shops and erecting shops for the manufacture and assembly of marine steam engines. Additions were made over the next ten years, culminating in the smithery which stands parallel with the original block, to the south; dating from 1847, this originally contained 48 hearths and 5 Nasmyth steam hammers. Coppersmiths and brass founders were accommodated in a smaller block just to the west (which is still to be seen, immediately north of the old police house at the West Gate). The building which faces the police house across the gateway was built in 1848–49 to serve as the Woolwich Dockyard School for Apprentices: one of a number of such schools set up at the Royal Dockyards under an Admiralty Scheme of 1843, Woolwich specialised in steam engineering, and for a time factory apprentices from all the royal dockyards were educated at the school.[2]
Less than half a
Relocated buildings
An iron-framed building of 1814 by John Rennie the Elder, removed from Woolwich in the 1970s, was re-erected at Ironbridge where it houses the Blists Hill foundry exhibit; in the dockyard it had housed Rennie's anchor forge, which was notable as the first industrial use of steam power in any naval establishment (other than for pumping water).[5]
A number of metal roofs, built over shipbuilding slips at Woolwich in the 1840s and 1850s, were dismantled after the Yard closed and rebuilt at Chatham to house various manufacturing processes:
- The earliest, constructed by Fox, Henderson & Co in 1844–45, remains one of the oldest surviving examples of a wide-span metal frame structure (of a form later destined to become familiar in the construction of train sheds and similar buildings). Originally built over No. 7 Slip (renumbered as No. 6 in the 1850s), the structure was dismantled after the closure of the dockyard and rebuilt at Chatham to serve as a machine shop.[2]
- Another, built over No. 4 Slip in 1846–47, was also by Fox and Henderson but of a much more sophisticated design (as well as being larger and more robust). Moved to Chatham in 1876, it served to house the main boiler shop for the steam factory there. After standing empty for many years it was restored in 2002–03 to serve as the main mall of Chatham's Dockside Outlet shopping centre.[45]
- A third slip cover, manufactured by Henry and Martin Grissell and erected over the new No. 5 Slip in 1856–58, was also moved to Chatham in the 1870s, where it went on to serve as the main Engineering Factory of the expanded dockyard. Unlike the earlier two examples it was subsequently demolished (in around about 1990).
The Dockyard Church, designed by George Gilbert Scott and dating from 1856 to 1858, had formerly stood just inside the main gate to the Dockyard. It had seating for 1,200 worshippers and was designed to accommodate not only the resident officers and workers of the yard but also the Woolwich Division of the Royal Marines. After a period of disuse it was dismantled and rebuilt in 1932 in Eltham (where it remains in use as St Barnabas's Church).[2]
Gallery
-
Clock house (1783) as seen from the main gate
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Main Gate (1784)
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Guard house and Master Warders's lodgings (1788–89)
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Gun battery (1847, rebuilt 1976)
Docks and slips
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No. 2 Dock (rebuilt 1838–41)
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No. 3 Dock (rebuilt 1844–46)
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No. 5 Slip (rebuilt 1855–56)
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No. 6 Slip (1728, later rebuilt and extended)
Steam factory site
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Steam Factory: the former erecting shop (1838)
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Steam Factory: the former brass foundry (1846) with the smithery beyond
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Steam Factory: the former smithery (1846)
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Factory wall (rebuilt c. 1840)
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Police Station alongside the West Gate (1846)
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Woolwich Dockyard School for Apprentices (1848–49)
Later development
-
1970s housing estate
-
Mast Quay development (2004–06)
-
The Thames Path in Woolwich Dockyard
-
Fishing in a former dry dock
References
- ^ Hogg, Brigadier O.F.G. (1963). The Royal Arsenal Woolwich. Vol. I. London: Oxford University Press.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Saint & Guillery, The Survey of London vol. 48: Woolwich, Yale, 2012.
- ^ Woolwich, Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition, 2010
- ISBN 978-0-9568614-0-5.
- ^ a b English Heritage Survey of the Naval Dockyards
- ^ Harrison, Simon. "Master Shipwright at Woolwich Dockyard". threedecks.org. S. Harrison, 2010–2018. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
- ^ a b Harrison, Simon (2010–2018). "Woolwich Dockyard". threedecks.org. S,. Harrison. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
- ^ Clowes, Sir William Laird (1897–1903). The royal navy, a history from the earliest times to the present Volume II. London, England: S. Low Marston. p. 231.
- ^ Clowes, Sir William Laird (1897–1903). The royal navy, a history from the earliest times to the present Volume III. London, England: S. Low Marston. p. 4.
- ^ Clowes, Sir William Laird (1897–1903). The royal navy, a history from the earliest times to the present Volume IV. London, England: S. Low Marston. p. 152.
- ^ Clowes, Sir William Laird (1897–1903). The royal navy, a history from the earliest times to the present Volume V. London, England: S. Low Marston. p. 5.
- ^ Admiralty, Great Britain (March 1828). The Navy List. London, England: John Murray. p. 121.
- ^ Admiralty, Great Britain (March 1834). The Navy List. London, England: John Murray. p. 136.
- ^ Admiralty, Great Britain (March 1835). The Navy List. London, England: John Murray. p. 135.
- ^ Admiralty, Great Britain (November 1840). The Navy List. London, England: Simpkin Marshall and Co. p. 135.
- ^ Admiralty, Great Britain (August 1841). The Navy List. London, England: Simpkin Marshall and Co. p. 265.
- ^ Admiralty, Great Britain (August 1843). The Navy List. London, England: Simpkin Marshall and Co. p. 263.
- ^ Admiralty, Great Britain (February 1844). The Navy List. London, England: Simpkin Marshall and Co. p. 263.
- ^ Admiralty, Great Britain (December 1847). The Navy List. London, England: Simpkin Marshall and Co. p. 236.
- ^ Admiralty, Great Britain (December 1848). The Navy List. London, England: John Murray. p. 173.
- ^ Admiralty, Great Britain (December 1852). The Navy List. London, England: John Murray. p. 185.
- ^ Bramble, James (1891). Promotion and Retirement of Flag Officers and Captains of the Royal Navy. Portsmouth: Holbrook & Son. p. 62.
- ^ "The Royal Dockyards of Deptford and Woolwich". Retrieved 21 August 2012.
- ^ Mills, Mary (4 October 2023). "Boatbuilding and the Cunis family". Greenwich Weekender. Retrieved 4 October 2023., pp.10-11.
- ^ "First or Woolwich Dockyard Division". Reports from Commissioners. 30 (17): 70. 1872.
- ^ Atkins, T. (1883). Army & Navy Calendar. London: W. H. Allen. p. 158.
- ^ a b Macdonald, Janet (2014). From Boiled Beef to Chicken Tikka: 500 Years of Feeding the British Army. Barnsley, S. Yorks.: Frontline Books. p. 105.
- ^ Crew, Graeme (1970). The Royal Army Service Corps. London: Leo Cooper Ltd. p. 81.
- ^ Tricker, Ray (1991). Defence Electronics: Standards and Quality Assurance. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 168.
- ^ "Royal Engineer Stores Inspection Department". The Monthly Army List: 940. November 1934.
- ^ Kneen, Brig. J. M.; Sutton, Brig. D. J. (1996). Craftsmen of the Army: The Story of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (Volume II). London: Leo Cooper. p. 90.
- ^ "The Army Pay Services on the Eve of the Great War". The RAPC Regimental Association.
- ^ House of Commons Hansard, 20 March 1917, volume 92 c.591
- ^ "Allies Here come the girls! The women volunteers at the Army Pay Office Woolwich from August to October 1914". Western Front Association. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- ^ Fernyhough, Brigadier A. H. (1967). History of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps1920-1945. Royal Army Ordnance Corps. p. 421.
- ^ The Story of the Royal Army Service Corps 1939-1945. London: G. Bell and Sons Ltd. 1955. p. 567.
- ^ "Written answers, House of Commons 1964". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 15 July 1964. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
- ^ "Photo". Flickr. 5 April 2015.
- ^ "The move has started..." REME Museum. 10 February 2017.
- ^ Coughlan, Joe (17 February 2023). "Developers could be forced to change 'eyesore' South London tower block". MyLondon. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
- ^ Booth, Robert (27 September 2023). "London apartment block that deviates from plans must be torn down, says council". Guardian. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
- ^ Prior, Grant (27 September 2023). "Council orders developer to tear down tower blocks". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
- ^ Kelly, James (27 September 2023). "Woolwich: Developers ordered to demolish 'mutant' apartment blocks". BBC News. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
- ^ Pevsner, The Buildings of England – London: South. Yale, 1983 & 2002.
- ^ Wright, Joe (26 March 2020). "Photos show construction and the openings of Kent's shopping centres". Kent Online. Retrieved 14 December 2020.