OLD DEVONPORT . UK
www.olddevonport.uk
 

ROYAL DOCKYARD  |  SOUTH YARD

BUILDING SLIP 4

Another ten acres of ground was leased in November 1761, which increased the area of the Dockyard to 70 acres.  Three acres of it were recovered form the sea.  The area was known into modern times as the "New Ground".

Within ten years three extra building slips had been constructed on the site, between the Camber to the north and the Mast Pond to the south.

When the Slips were numbered from north to south this was Building Slip number 2.  It was constructed between 1762 and 1764, along with Building Slip number 1 to the north.  Its measurements at that time were believed to be: Length along the floor, 195 feet 9 inches; Length to top of slope, 206 feet 7 inches; Breadth at bottom, 50 feet 4 inches; Breadth at top, 67 feet; Depth at jetty aft (entrance), 16 feet 10 inches; Depth at Head, 6 feet.

In 1849 the Building Slip 2 was renumbered Building Slip number 4, the numbering now running from south to north.

On its 1912 map of the Royal Dockyard, the Ordnance Survey gave the official measurements of Building Slip number 4 as being: 460 feet 3 inches in length, by 80 feet 1 inch width at the entrance.

At its head were Machine Shop number 4; sub station C and the Clock Station.

Between it and Building Slip 5 (the original  Building Slip 1) was the Scrieve Board with its associated Slab Floor.