Deptford Dockyard
While the adjacent victualling yard, that had been established in the 1740s, continued in use until the 1960s, the land used by the dockyard was sold; the area (known as Convoys Wharf) is currently being redeveloped for housing, commercial, leisure and other purposes.[3] North-west of the storehouse, a natural pond (which had formed at the mouth of the Orfleteditch, a minor tributary)[3] was in 1517 converted into a basin (or wet dock) to provide a protected mooring area for several of the King's ships.[4][7] The physical expansion of Deptford at this time reflected the increasing development and sophistication of naval administration: in the 1540s a large house was built, adjoining the north-west end of the storehouse, which served as he official residence of the Treasurer of the Navy up until the 1660s; and with the creation of the antecedent of the Navy Board in the mid-sixteenth century, a new house was built nearby at Deptford Strand for the "officers' clerks of the Admiralty to write therein".[4] Deptford became increasingly sophisticated in its operations, with £150 paid in 1578 to build gates for the dry dock, removing the necessity of constructing a temporary earth dockhead and then digging it away to free the ship once work had been completed.[11][a] The significance of Deptford to English maritime strength was highlighted when Elizabeth I knighted Francis Drake at the dockyard in 1581 after his circumnavigation of the globe aboard the Golden Hind.Though Deptford and Woolwich possessed the only working docks, the Thames was too narrow, shallow and heavily used and the London dockyards too far from the sea to make it an attractive anchorage for the growing navy.[15] Despite this, Deptford Dockyard continued to flourish and expand, being closely associated with the Pett dynasty, which produced several master shipwrights during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.[25] Throughout the various wars of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the navy sought to relieve pressure on the main fleet bases by concentrating shipbuilding and fitting out at riverine docks like Chatham, Woolwich and Deptford, leaving the front-line dockyards at Portsmouth, Plymouth and the Nore for maintenance and repair.[29] Smaller vessels such as frigates, however, could still be laid up at Deptford for repair or equipping, and in times of urgency it was possible to contract additional riggers from other yards on the Thames.[4] The yard had its location close to the main navy offices in London in its favour, but the silting of the Thames and the trend towards larger warships made continued naval construction there an unappealing prospect.[42] That year they were busy erecting plank sheds on the new ground to accommodate the large amounts of timber required for shipbuilding, and a new 'plank store and working shed' (with a mould loft on the upper storey) was under construction by the mast pond; however, following the introduction of ironclad warships it soon became apparent that the days of Deptford Dockyard were numbered, and in 1865 a parliamentary committee recommended the closure of the yard 'so far as shipbuilding is concerned'.[45] In 1898, owing to a lack of available space, the naval stores were moved to new warehouse accommodation at the West India Docks (to be termed the Admiralty Depôt), and the Victualling Yard then expanded into the vacated area of the former Dockyard.Fifteen acres to the south-west (namely that part of the land that had been purchased in 1856) was sold back to William John Evelyn, who resolved to turn it into a public park.[45] He planted the area with shrubs and trees taken from his grounds at Wotton House, erected a bandstand in the centre and another building to the side to serve as a museum to his ancestor Sir John.[58] The site was swiftly converted to become the Corporation of London's Foreign Cattle Market (providing space for the sale and slaughter of imported livestock, in accordance with the terms of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1869).[37] A later periodical described how "Deptford Dockyard, dismantled and degraded from its olden service to the Navy, has just been converted into a foreign cattle market and a shambles.[61] Not long afterwards, in October 1914, the site was leased by the War Department to serve as a Supply Reserve Depot (SRD) for the Army Service Corps: a centralised facility for the storage and distribution of food and provisions for troops mobilised overseas.In the mid-1930s Deptford was the Army's only Supply Reserve Depot, but it was judged to be highly vulnerable to air attacks; additional depots were hurriedly built at Barry and Taunton, but Deptford remained in operation and indeed suffered much bomb damage during the Second World War: seven V1 Flying Bombs hit the former Dockyard area in June–August 1944, and a V2-rocket hit, doing further damage, the following March.(This building, of distinctive iron construction, was originally a double shed, built over dual slipways alongside the main Basin to enable shipbuilding to take place under cover).Moreover, remains of many of the yard's core features, including the slipways, dry docks, basins, mast ponds and building foundations, still exist below ground level and have been studied in archaeological digs.[24] The Royal Victoria Victualling Yard continued in operation for almost a century after the closure of the dockyard, dedicated to the manufacture and storage of food, drink, clothing and furniture for the navy.[61] The Commissioners of the Board of Transport had their headquarters in Westminster, just off Canon Row; but they also maintained an office at Deptford which played a key role in the practical administration of their work.This involved providing such ships as might be required by the Army, the Navy, the Ordnance Board, the Commissariat, the Victualling Commissioners and others for the overseas transport of troops, horses, stores, supplies, ammunition and artillery (e.g. to a distant theatre of war, anchorage or military base).[75] This arrangement enabled transports to come alongside and be loaded with supplies (previously, the vessels had had to remain moored in the river while smaller craft brought them their stores and provisions).Purchase of the freehold of the site was discussed, but this did not proceed; instead the premises were leased from Mr Dudman (along with a pair of dwelling-houses for the senior officers, on the other side of the main road).[76] The Agent for Transports and his staff duly relocated to the nearby dockyard, and in 1831 the Navy Board offered up for sale the remainder of the lease on the Dudman property, describing it as 'valuable Waterside Premises, lately the Transport-Yard, adjoining His Majesty's Victualling-Yard at Deptford'.
- Officers' houses & offices
- The double dry dock (and beyond it the smithery)
- Quadrangular Great Storehouse
- A pair of shipbuilding slips
- Wet dock (or basin)
- Shipbuilding slip
- Mast houses and mast pond
- Boat house
- New mast house and pond
(See plan below for further details).
HMS CambridgeJohn Cleveley the Elderfirst rateRoyal NavyNavy BoardAdmiraltyVictualling YardTransport Boardnaval dockyardDeptfordRiver ThamesHenry VIIITudor periodFrancis DrakeWalter Raleighassociated Victualling YardVictualling BoardPeter the GreatVancouverNelsonNapoleonic WarsThamesConvoys WharfJoseph FaringtonHenry VHenry VIIfirst royal dockyardPortsmouthWoolwich DockyardWar of the League of Cambrairoyal cypherdry docktributarywet dockmooringTreasurer of the NavySiege of BoulogneElizabeth IGolden HindDeptford CreekSir Walter RaleighJohn EvelynSayes CourtChatham DockyardRiver MedwaySheernessPett dynastygreat shipsslipwayssmithsCommonwealthGlorious RevolutionJohn BenbowHMS St Albansnaval transport serviceHMS Buckinghamthird rate1745 Establishment74-gunTeredo wormsheer hulkJames CookHMS EndeavourHMS ResolutionHMS DiscoveryGeorge Vancouverexpedition between 1791 and 1795HMS ChathamHMS BountyHMS ProvidenceWilliam BlighHMS NeptuneHMS ColossusBattle of TrafalgarHMS SwiftsureJohn RennieHMS CometHMS WorcesterJoseph Huddartthree-deckersmould loftironclad warshipsHMS San JosefHMS DruidRoyal Victoria Victualling YardWest India DocksComptroller of the NavysuperintendentErith DockyardWilliam GonsonWilliam WynterEdward FalkinghamCharles CunninghamJohn HillHoratio Thomas AustinClaude BuckleHenry ChadsPeter PettJoseph PettChristopher PettThomas PollardWilliam John EvelynWotton HousebandstandOctavia HillNational TrustForeign Cattle Market, DeptfordCity of London CorporationSolicitor to the AdmiraltyContagious Diseases (Animals) ActrefrigeratedWar DepartmentArmy Service Corpszeppelin attackTauntonV1 Flying BombsV2-rocketmotor transportDefence Review of 1981News InternationalHampton Court PalaceScheduled Ancient MonumentreplicaHMS Lenoxship of the lineHermione