Sheerness Royal Dockyard… Where are we now?

The Royal Navy closed the dockyard in 1960, leaving behind a superb complex of historic buildings mainly from the Georgian era. The engineer John Rennie Senior (1761-1821) planned new designs for most of the Dockyard which was rebuilt between 1813 and 1830. From 1960 to the present day the former dockyard has been operated as a commercial port, and in June 2000 I made my first visit. the cost of £1.85m. The buyout was described as “one of the greatest heritage rescues of recent years”. All but one of the ten buildings had been empty and unoccupied for the best part of a decade. Since then all the properties have been restored to a high specification. I was fortunate recently to visit one of these, the Boatswain’s House.

Another developer acquired the Dockyard Church, a Grade II* listed building built initially built 1826/8, although gutted by fire in 1881 and rebuilt. This developer proposed building twenty-two flats within the Church and an enabling development close by of five terraced houses.

Planning permission was given for this in 2008, but the developer did not proceed. In 2001 the Church had been burnt out in a severe fire, and although today it is still in a mostly derelict state, great news in 2013 was its acquisition by the Spitalfields Trust. It was then transferred to an

The situation was not good at that time. Over fifty listed buildings had been demolished in the 1960s and 1970s. Casualties included the Great Quadrangular Store, once the largest industrial building in Europe and scandalously demolished in 1978 (although its timber clock tower survives). Another loss was the wooden wall ship Cornwallis, built of teak in Bombay and going into service in 1813. Somehow, she survived until 1960 as a hulk and was then dismantled, albeit with some difficulty due to her massive construction. Most of the former dockyard is owned by Peel Ports who acquired it in 2006, and being a commercial port is a secure area without, sadly, any public access.

Outside the secure area and accessible therefore is the superb Naval Terrace, restored to a high standard and in full use. Pevsner notes it as being like “being in Woburn Square.” The other extant terrace Dockyard Terrace, comprising five elegant houses within the secure area of the port was sadly in poor condition at the time of my 2000 visit, with its gardens having been converted to a lorry park. In 2003 the Terrace along with other notable adjacent properties (including the palatial

Commissioner’s House) in the 4-acre former officer’s residential quarter was sold by the port to a London based property developer. The properties were well constructed, and similar properties at Chatham Dockyard had previously been refurbished and successfully brought back into use. Six at Sheerness were listed Grade II* and four Grade II. The developer proposed inter alia building modern residential blocks alongside the Georgian buildings and providing access by driving a road through the dockyard wall. Feelings ran high locally, and Councillors refused planning permission despite a recommendation by planning officials to accept. One Councillor commented that the dockyard wall had survived Hitler’s efforts attempts to demolish it by bombing, so why should this speculative project do so? In 2011 the Spitalfields Trust acquired the Georgian quarter at associated charity the Sheerness Dockyard Preservation Trust – www.sdpt.org.uk – which has secured £4.7m of Lottery funding to convert this interesting building into a community centre. Matched funding is still needed. It is also planned to display parts of Rennie’s

Dockyard Model there, a substantial structure covering 1600 square feet and currently stored at Fort Brockhurst near Portsmouth. The Church is a vital element of the Officer’s Quarter, and this entire area will be sensitively conserved.

The Grade II* listed Working Mast and Boat House (built 1823/6) in the secure area of the dockyard was threatened with demolition in 2012 when Vestas were looking to develop a wind turbine construction facility, creating 2,000 jobs.

However, for business reasons the project was cancelled.

Currently, within the secure area of the port, there is much concern at the condition of the Boathouse, Grade I listed and completed in 1860. It is quite possibly the most important dockyard building in the UK. Looking, subject to its poor condition, as though it was built much more recently, the Boathouse has a structural frame of iron rather than traditional bricks and mortar.

Opposite, left

Fig 1: Aerial view c.1971 with Officers Quarter at to (author)

Opposite, right

Fig 2: The Boathouse in 2003 (D. Hughes Collection)

Top

Fig 3: Naval Terrace and Dockyard Church (D. Hughes Collection)

Middle

Fig 4: Hulk of the Cornwallis, 1956 (D Hughes Collection)

Bottom

Fig 5: Commissioners House and clock tower of Quadrangular Store (author)