|
OLD DEVONPORT
. UK |
||
|
© Brian
Moseley, Plymouth Webpage created: July 01, 2019 Webpage updated: October 04, 2022 |
||
|
|
||
|
BUILDING SLIP 1 (S 180)
Building Slip Number 1, known as The Covered
Slip. The first of the Building Slips to be constructed at the Royal Dockyard was the one nearest the boundary wall at Mutton Cove: it became Building Slip number 5 and in 1849 was renumbered as Building Slip number 1. The plans were drawn up in August 1774 and the estimated cost was expected to be £1,056 1s 6d for materials and £834 6s 8d for labour, a grand total of £1,890 8s 2d. It is said to date from 1765. Further alterations were made circa 1788.
The Covered Slip from the adjoining shore. Between 1814 and 1821 the timber roof was added, to the designs of Sir Robert Seppings (1767-1840), Surveyor to the Navy. This gave protection from the weather to the wooden ships and the men working on them. The roof is supported on 23 trussed wooden pillars. The northern of the roof is apsidal to accommodate bowsprits. A document held at the Public Record Office gives the measurements of Building Slip 5 as: length along the floor, 174 feet 9 inches; breadth at bottom, 43 feet 9 inches; breadth at top, 56 feet exactly; depth at head, 4 feet 9 inches; depth at jetty end, 15 feet 6 inches, length to top of slope, 183 feet. As previously mentioned, in 1849 Building Slip 5 was renumbered Building Slip 1.
Interior of the Covered Slip. It would appear that at some point Building Slip 1 was enlarged because the official measurements given by the Ordnance Survey in 1912 were: length 237 feet 6 inches and width at entrance 49 feet. To the north of it were Machine Shop 2A, the King's Hill, and a Boiler House. Along side it was an Underground Pump House and Building Slip 2, the Shallow Dock. This Slip is now known as "The Covered Slip" and has is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is the oldest Covered Slip in any of the Royal Dockyards.
|
||
