I should start with a disclaimer. The site of
Deptford’s Royal Dockyard is now entirely within the London Borough of Lewisham
- but I feel I should include it as a Greenwich site. The whole of the Dockyard
area was originally in Kent and would have been covered by St Nicholas parish. Half of it remained in the Metropolitan
Borough of Greenwich but eventually was handed over to Lewisham in the 1970.
This was mainly so that the London County Council constructed Pepys Estate
could be administered as a single body.
Deptford Dockyard -and indeed the other Royal Dockyards
- have an important place in the history of industry in Britain.
------------------------------------------------
The Greenwich area is remarkable in having two Royal
Dockyards. In the 16th century this area was in Kent and had had a
Royal presence throughout the Middle Ages. When the court had moved to
Greenwich and it was the ambition of the monarch to build a Navy. It must have seemed obvious that nearby areas
on the Riverside would be used as site. Henry VII had a storehouse here in
Deptford and the site was greatly expanded under Henry VIII.
There is a vast amount of information on Deptford
Dockyard – and this is only a brief summary. The latest archaeological report
alone is a substantial volume.[1]
The Dockyard may have been sited here as the result
of a natural pond which and may have been used since the 13th
century to moor Royal ships and where repairs and maintenance could take place.
The Dockyard itself was built around a naval store house
built in 1517[2]
to which moorings and a dock basin were added.
The Tudor 'Great Store-house' lasted for a century after the
Dockyard closed. The foundation stone was given to University College, London in
1953 by the London County Council - they managed to cover it up and forget they
had it. It was discovered by Chris Mazieka
from Shipwrights Palace and is now back on display,[3] The storehouse
building was parallel to the river and the Great Dock - a
double-length dry dock - lay next to it. At the same time as docks were
built there were also offices, stores and other amenity buildings. These
included large houses for senior officers. [4]
The dockyard was the most
important of the Royal Dockyards, and, as The Kings Yard. it was visited on
occasion by the monarch to inspect new ships building there. Elizabeth is said
to have knighted Francis Drake there in
1581.
By the seventeenth century the yard
covered a large area and included large numbers of storehouses. The Great Dock
was lengthened and enlarged in 1610, several slipways were remodelled and in
1620 a second dry dock was built, with a third being authorised in 1623. After 1688 a Great New Storehouse was built and
at around the same time terraces of houses for the officers of the yard were
built.
In 1675 Pepys said that 305 shipwrights were needed
to build one ship[5]
and Deptford Dockyard had a huge
workforce of tradesmen, labourers and clerks with a Master Shipwright at their
head.[6] Pepys was Clerk to the Navy Board 1660-1689
and Deptford well within his remit.
In 1698 Tsar Peter the Great in 1698 came to learn
about work in the yard[7]
and the damage done to Evelyn’s Sayes Court by his entourage –‘right nasty’[8]
–is well known.
As warfare increased through the 18th century
so there was a massive growth in naval power and the Royal Dockyards were at
the heart of foreign policy. They were
not only massive industrial complexes in themselves but generated many
additional industries. But as the smallest Dockyard upriver Deptford was difficult
to access by large vessels but convenient for Navy Board officials based at
Somerset House. Deptford was a used as a depot for the distribution of naval
supplies.
After 1763 Britain’s naval perspective altered and was less concerned with foreign wars. [9] “There was a more competent bureaucracy, a thriving maritime economy .. and British maritime ascendancy 1755-1815”.[10] Machinery and steam power were becoming important. The second steam dredger was built at Deptford in 1807 and the navy’s first steam vessel, Congo, launched here in 1816.[11]
River walls were constructed
in the early 19th century including work by John Rennie, Jolliffe
and Bank as contractors, dating from 1815-16. These are now listed[12] along with the eastern
boundary wall which is also the current borough boundary.[13]
The yard was closed in 1830 – but –reopened in 1843
with a restriction on the size of vessels. Some of the largest roof structures
of the time were built in iron over the ship building slips. One remains on
site known as the Olympia warehouse.[14]
The yard closed, along with Woolwich, in 1869 as
part of a general government cost cutting exercise. Its 800 remaining workers
were transferred elsewhere.
What remains are many great paintings of important
ships under construction or repair, reflecting their glamour and fame. Details
of the yard can also be gained from an exact model prepared for George III now
in the National Maritime Museum store. [15]
The bell tower of the quadrangle storehouse is now a
feature of a supermarket in Thamesmead. [16]
At the extreme downriver end of the dockyard site is
a large and rambling building. It dates from 1708, but was added to and used as
the Master Shipwrights house and offices.
It was sold separately by Convoys to two young men who have since
restored the building = as The Shipwrights Palace and undertaken much
meticulous research on the site.[17]
In 2025 the site still remains
largely derelict and awaiting development.[18] The Former Master
Shipwright's House and the former Office Building are both Grade II*
listed. There also remains alongside the site an important concrete jetty
used by later occupants, principally after 1984 Convoys newspaper depot who
bought the site from the Ministry of Defence.
Increasingly there is research of this important
site.[19]
[1] In 2014 the results of the archaeological excavation was published in a volume of some 250 pages of close detail. Francis. The Deptford Royal Dockyard
[2] The storehouse was demolished by the Admiralty in 1951, but following some agitation the foundation stone was preserved and is now on display in University College. London;
[3] https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2014/feb/royal-tudor-foundation-stone-rediscovered-u
[4] Royal Museums. Greenwich
[5] Banbury
[6] Francis quotes the workforce on 14th September 1755 as 1066. Industrial action was far from unknown.
[7] https://www.mola.org.uk/discoveries/news/deptfords-forgotten-shipbuilders-researching-depth-guided-walk
[8] Letter to Evelyn from his steward reporting on the visit. BM Evelyn collection
[9] Francis
[10] Francis, quoting Morriss. Foundations of British Maritime Ascendancy.
[11] Banbury
[12] https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1416575?section=official-list-entry
[13] https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1288622
[14] Sutherland, R.J.M. Shipbuilding and the Long-Span Roof: Journal of the Newcomen Society, London, 1989.
[15] National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
[16] https://thamesmeadcommunityarchive.org.uk/explore/thamesmead-town-centre-clock-tower
[17] Chris Mazieka and Willi Richards http://shipwrightspalace.blogspot.co.uk/
[18] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoys_Wharf gives an extremely detailed account of the various stages which have been gone through since closure of Convoys.
[19] See: Five Hundred Years of Deptford and Woolwich Royal Dockyards. Trans. Naval Dockyards Society Vol 11. Jan. 2019 - (seven papers – Coats, Five Hundred Years of Deptford and Woolwich, MacDougall, Naval Multiplex of Kentish London; Ellmers, Deptford Private Shipyards, Cross-Rudkin, John Rennie and the Naval Dockyards, Stevenson, Block and Tackle – English Heritage, Hawkins, Archaeology of Convoys Wharf, Mazeika, Mapping the Built Environment .. Deptford. The Naval Dockyards Society brings out regular newsletters and information https://navaldockyards.org/. The Deptford Royal Dockyard and Manor of Sayes Court, London. Anthony Francis, MOLA, 2017. http://www.buildthelenox.org/ (information on a local project) hoping to set up a visitors centre) https://www.mola.org.uk/blog/discovering-deptford-royal-dockyard-pictures (archaeology
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