1914 Guide for Visitors to the Dockyard
The following text is extracted from 'A pictorial and descriptive guide to Plymouth,
Stonehouse and Devonport with excursions by river, road and sea' [1]
Ed. 5, rev. Published 1914 by Ward Lock & Co Ltd. London.
.... At the western end of Fore Street is the main entrance to
The Dockyard.
Admission. Visitors are shown over the Dockyard between 10 a.m. and 12, and from
2 to 4 p.m. On Saturdays the hours are from 10 a.m. to 12 only. A policeman acts
as conductor. British subjects readily gain admission (the same may be said of most
of the other Government establishments) without other formality than that of knocking
at the door and asking permission.
The visitor to Devonport is chiefly concerned with the Dockyard, and as a rule makes
his way directly thither by tram from Plymouth.
As has been stated, the Dockyard was founded by William III. in 1691, on a spot
known as Point Froward, where a little inlet became the first basin, and its upper
end the first dock. The area then enclosed was not more than five acres, and this
was soon found too small.
Extensions were made in 1728, and again in 1768 ; indeed the work of enlargement
has scarcely ever ceased, new land being purchased at one time, the sea being robbed
at another. The area of the Yard and of Keyham Factory (to give the place its old
name) is now about 100 acres, all closely covered with shops, rope- walks, smitheries,
stores, docks, and building-slips.
On beginning a tour of the Dockyard in charge of a well-informed member of the police
force, every visitor is struck by the quiet and orderliness pervading the entrance
to these hives of industry, where about 4,000 workmen are engaged. The avenue of
trees and the Dockyard Chapel just inside the main entrance are hardly suggestive
of the warlike activities beyond. The Chapel is not particularly interesting, but
the adjoining Fire Engine House repays a visit. Here are kept many figure-heads
of the old " wooden walls " which have long since found their way to shopbreakers'
yards. The gaily-painted busts and figures which once adorned the bows of vessels
which took part in many of the great battles of the past form a quaint and striking
collection.
Leaving this building we soon reach the head of the steps which lead to the Dockyard,
and from which a fine view is gained of the Docks and the Hamoaze. It is impossible
to convey any idea of the varied activities which are to be witnessed at the dock
sides and in the many workshops. The visitor should not fail to visit the large
Smithery, however much the smoke and soot may drive him to the open air. Here anchors
and other heavy metal work are dealt with and the great Nasmyth steam hammer may
be seen. Another department of special interest is the Ropery, where practically
all the ropes used in the Navy are made, for the output at the Chatham ropery, the
only other Government establishment of the kind, is very small. A special order
is required to enter this building, where the making of rope can be watched from
the time when the flax is sorted and passed through the spinning jennies, tended
by women, until it reaches the department where it is made into great ropes —
all with the thin red twine, the Government trade mark, running through them.
Our guide will take us to the building-slips, where we shall probably see some mighty
engine of war being put together piece by piece. Since 1897 Devonport has had a
hand in the building of many modern ironclads. In March, 1902, Queen Alexandra launched
the battleship Queen, and King Edward VII laid the keel plate of the battleship
named after himself, which in its turn was launched in June of the following year
by Queen Mary, then Princess of Wales. In our round of the Yard, we shall notice
the King's Hill, where a neatly gravelled path, winding between beds gay with flowers,
leads up to a sort of mound, on which is a pavilion. It is said that George III
visited the spot one day, and was so pleased with the prospect that he requested
that the hill might be turned to account for its present purpose. And so we have
this oasis amidst the scene of activity, the pavilion being used for storing a few
interesting trophies.
A tunnel over half a mile in length connects the South Dockyard with the North Yard
and Factory at Keyham, and, en route, with the Gun Wharf. Thus the traffic between
the establishments is conducted without passing through the public streets, and
with far greater advantage of level.
The Gun Wharf,
built between 1718 and 1725, is the depot of the Ordnance stores. The designer
was the famous Sir John Van brugh, the architect of Blenheim Palace, on whose grave,
in St. Stephen's Church, Walbrook, London, is the witty epitaph
"Lie heavy on him, Earth, for he Laid many a heavy load on thee".
An examination of the various weapons, disposed in more or less artistic designs,
is not without interest.
Keyham Yard,
or the
North Yard as it is officially called, is the most extensive of the kind
in the world. Begun in 1844, at what was then Moon Cove (a name since changed to
Keyham Point), it was opened, in defiance of seamen's omens, on Friday, October
7, 1853, when the Queen, of 116 guns, was taken in, all standing, the crew manning
the yards. The Yard is
connected by a branch line with the two railways that run into the town. A striking
view is gained from the Yard, the teeming waters of the Hamoaze occupying the foreground,
and the background being filled by Torpoint (almost a suburb of Devonport, though
on the Cornish side
of the estuary) and the hills of Cornwall. The original establishment contains two
basins, each more than eight acres in extent, and capable of taking the largest
vessels, with docks and a large engineering establishment attached.
In 1895 the Admiralty decided to carry out a scheme of extension at Keyham which
had been mooted for many years. In February of the following year, Sir John Jackson,
the contractor for the Manchester Ship Canal, began the most important and extensive
and, needless to add, expensive dockyard works which the officials at Whitehall
have designed. Hitherto the Dockyard and Factory had covered nearly 100 acres, and
the extension included the utilization of a further 118 acres between the termination
of Keyham Yard and the Ordnance Depot at Bull Point. The principal
feature of the scheme was the provision of a large tidal basin, 10 acres in extent,
and a closed basin with an area of 35 acres. The scheme also provided for three
Graving Docks, the lengths of which are 660 ft., and two of 750 ft. each, and an
entrance lock, which can be used as a dock, of 730 ft. in length. These docks will
accommodate ships larger than any war-vessel yet constructed. Previously it was
impossible for modern leviathans to be docked at Devonport, and the Admiralty undertook
this scheme, at a cost of about six millions sterling, for the same reason that
William III. built the first dock, because Devonport's geographical position
renders it essential that there should be ample facilities here for repairing the
largest, as well as the smallest, warships in case of necessity. The new Docks were
formally opened by the then Prince and Princess of Wales in February, 1907. Access
to these works is gained from the Keyham Yard, to which they are an adjunct, or
by the gate opposite St. Levan Road.
While in the Keyham district we can see the large pile known as the
Royal Naval Engineering College,
in which for many years the engineer officers of the Royal
Navy were trained. The College was closed in July, 1910, having been superseded
by the newer colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth. Under the present system, all naval
officers, whether destined to be engineers or to specialize in any other branch,
receive their early training in common. In the neighbourhood, too, are the Royal
Naval Barracks, where bluejackets live while waiting to be drafted to ships. The
buildings accommodate 2,000 officers and seamen, having been recently doubled in
size, at a cost of £160,000, to provide accommodation for the increasing personnel
of the Navy. At the entrance to the Barracks are two interesting mementoes of warlike
operations. One is a bronze muzzle-loading cannon in the form of a dragon, captured
in the Burmese war of 1885; the other, in remarkable contrast, a modern Krupp gun
taken by a party of seamen and marines landed from H.M.S. Aurora at the capture
of the Chinese forts at Taku in 1900. Overlooking these modern institutions is the
Blockhouse, a relic of the old fortifications.
[1] Document accessed November 2013 from
US Archive website.
(page added November 2013)