Royal William Victualling Yard

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Banks of the Royal William Yard

The Royal William Victualling Yard was the former central supply depot for the British Naval Base Devonport . The complex is located in Stonehouse , a district of Plymouth , at the mouth of Tamar in the Plymouth sound . The building complex, which is protected as a Scheduled Monument , has numerous architectural monuments classified as Grade I. Because of its architecture, its state planning and its complete state of preservation, the complex is considered an outstanding industrial monument from the first half of the 19th century in England.

history

In 1823 the Admiralty decided to build a new supply depot for the Devonport Naval Base. The designs for the system come from the architect and civil engineer John Rennie . Construction began in 1826 and Hugh McIntosh was in charge of construction under the supervision of Rennie and Philip Richards . A 2.4-hectare part of the 6-hectare building plot was won through land reclamation , for which convicts had to use forced labor to sink around 300,000 t of rock into the sea. Construction work on the complex was completed in 1835 and the complex was named after the then King William IV , who had been Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy as Lord High Admiral before his accession to the throne .

Building of the Royal William Yard, on the right the harbor basin, behind it the former brewery

The new provisions magazine was ready for use as early as 1833, but many facilities such as the slaughterhouse and brewery were not used very much in the years to come. This was due to newer methods of preserving and storing food, but also changes to the food rations of the Royal Navy. In 1831 the daily beer ration for the sailors was canceled so that the huge brewery, which was designed for a daily production of 137,000 liters of beer, only needed to produce small quantities of beer for the nearby naval hospital. As of the 1880s, the provisions of the provisions magazine were out of date, so most of the buildings were converted and used as warehouses and weapons arsenals. The final decline of the former provision magazine began with the abolition of the daily rum ration in the Royal Navy in 1971, so that the liquor store was no longer needed. In 1985 the naval administration decided to close the facility, on August 26, 1992 the use by the navy ended. In 1993 the building complex was handed over to the Plymouth Development Corporation . Various subsequent use concepts were not implemented. The architecture firm Gilmore Hankey Kirke finally created designs that were awarded the RIBA Conservation Awards , a prestigious British architecture prize, in 2006. Based on these designs, the Urban Splash development company began converting the Royal William Yard into an office, business and leisure center in 2006 . The renovation is not yet fully completed (as of 2012), but the waterfront facility has already become a popular new leisure venue in Plymouth.

investment

The walled structure was built on the northern part of the Devil's Point headland around a central docks where the barges could dock to bring supplies to the warships anchored in Plymouth Sound. A brewery, a cooperage , warehouses, a slaughterhouse, offices and quarters for the upper administrative employees as well as a mill and a bakery were built around the basin . The exterior of the complex was only slightly changed and survived the air raids during the Second World War unscathed, so that it is now a unique architectural monument.

The late Georgian-style buildings are built of limestone with lintels, cornices and other granite decorations. For fire protection, metal was used instead of wood or slate for the interior work of some of the buildings and for the roofs.

Main gate, the guard on the right
  • The main driveway in the south-west is representative. The main gate in the style of a triumphal arch is crowned by a 4 m high sandstone statue of Wilhelm IV. To the right of the main gate is the former slaughterhouse. Up to 80 cattle could be slaughtered at the same time in the single-storey building. The building was converted into a warehouse around 1885.
  • The millstones of the grain mill were operated with the help of steam engines, and the bakery was located in the adjacent part of the building. In 1925 the buildings were converted into a warehouse, in 1929 and in the 1960s they were damaged by fire but they were restored.
  • The massive brewery was never fully exploited. From 1885 the building was used as a slaughterhouse, from 1929 it served as an arsenal and from 1936 to 1971 as a torpedo workshop. In 1972 it became the headquarters of a Royal Marines unit .
  • In the cooperage were over 100 coopers produce needed for the storage of bread, meat, water and beer kegs. Since the need for barrels decreased sharply in the 19th century, the building was converted into an arsenal in 1891, in the new cooperage built in 1899 only 12 cooperators worked, and further workshops were housed here.
  • The 76 × 61 m central port basin was built between 1826 and 1832. Originally there were cranes along the quay walls of the rectangular basin, but they were later dismantled. The access to the basin is spanned by an iron swing bridge built between 1833 and 1835 so that workers could walk around the basin.
  • The Melville Building , which serves as a warehouse, is adorned with a clock tower because of its location in the middle of the harbor basin. The three- story Clarence Building was built between 1829 and 1831 as a warehouse for liquor, vinegar and beer. In 1891 it was converted into an office building and later served as a workshop and warehouse.

Web links

Commons : Royal William Victualling Yard  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The National Heritage List for England: Clarence Store Royal William Victualling Yard. Retrieved June 5, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Visit Plymouth: Royal William Yard. Retrieved June 5, 2013 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 21 '43.1 "  N , 4 ° 9' 52.3"  W.