OLD DEVONPORT . UK
www.olddevonport.uk
 

©  Brian Moseley, Plymouth
Webpage created: July 03, 2019
Webpage updated: October 03, 2022

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ROYAL DOCKYARD  |  SOUTH YARD

BASIN 1 AND DOCK 1

South Yard's Basin number 1 from Jetty 2,
with the Dockyard Chapel behind the Shipwrights' Iron Shed and the Terrace in the background.
From a Gale and Polden Limited postcard.

Basin number 1 and Dock number 1 were the first docks constructed at Devonport.  Known at that time as the Wet Dock and the Dry Dock, and designed by Mr Edward Dummer (1651-1713), Surveyor of the Navy, they were completed in 1693 at the instigation of His Majesty, King William III.  The contractor was a Mr Robert Walters.  Unique at the time, it was constructed in brick and stone and the Dock was one of the earliest in the world to be built with stepped altars and slides for the lowering of materials down the dockside.

Number 1 Dock, South Yard.

Number 1 Dock inside Number 1 Basin, South Yard.
©  Property Services Agency, Department of the Environment.

The Dry Dock, which in 1839 became South Dock and finally Dock number 1, was excavated from the hillside and the spoil used to create the Wet Dock in front of it.  This later became Basin number 1.  The Dry Dock, which could accommodate a first-rate warship, was said to have measured 230 feet in length and 50 feet in width at the dock gates.  It was 22 feet deep.  It had steps on the side and a twin-leaf dock gate, which took between 4 and 6 men to operate.

During the 1840s the Basin was reshaped and enlarged and an enlarged Dock 1 was rebuilt to the south of the original location.

In a document held by The National Archives the length of Basin 1 (Wet Dock) was 253 feet 9 inches from north to south and 197 feet 9 inches from east to west.  The depth was 24 feet.  The entrance tapered from 50 feet 6 inches at the outside of the wall up to 53 feet 8 inches on the inside of the wall.  The same document gave the dimensions of what was then called South Dock as being 197 feet 3 inches from gates to top of slope at head; 168 feet 8 inches from  gates to bottom of slope at head; 71 feet 7 inches breadth at upper stone altar amidships; 40 feet 3 inches breadth at bottom of dock amidships; 50 feet 4½ inches breadth at pier of gates; and 22 feet 5 inches depth of Dock amidships.

Other buildings erected as part of the creation of the Royal Dockyard were the Great Storehouse; the Ropery; the Smithery; boat houses; mast houses; carpenters' and joiners' shops; a small slipway; a mast pond; and The Terrace for the accommodation of the Dockyard officers, along with stables for their horses.

During 1851 the Main Dock Pump House (S87 and S 89) was built to the north of Dock number 1.

In 1912 the official measurements given by the Ordnance Survey of the Dry Dock (Dock number 1), were: 303 feet 7 inches in length; 65 feet in width at the Dock entrance but 96 feet 6 inches internally.  Basin number 1 covered 1 acre 2 roods and 6 perches.  It was 71 feet 6 inches wide at the entrance from the Hamoaze, with 31 feet 4 inches clearance at high water spring tides.  The entrance was spanned by a two-part sliding footbridge.  The Flag Officer's Landing Steps were on the eastern, inside, wall.

Basin number 1 and Dock number 1, along with their associated bollards and capstans, are Scheduled Ancient Monuments.