Timber Seasoning Store
Apart from the fact that this building has 16 gables - how often do you see that? - there's little on first sight to recommend this structure as worthy of any particular interest. However, Historic England gave it Grade II* listed status in 1999.
The building was designed in 1771 by the Navy Board and is an early example of modular design as structures of this design quickly appeared in numbers in all of the naval dockyards.
The structure consists of a single-storey weather-boarded timber frame built on a brick plinth with a corrugated asbestos roof. The building is 200 feet long and 45 feet deep.
There are double doors in each of the gables, all being louvred above. At the ends are louvred sides with five metal-framed windows. Inside, there are three bays deep with bracketed posts, with racks for stacking sawn timber, and timber trusses.
The seasoning sheds were introduced by order of John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich during his third (!) period as First Lord of the Admiralty (political head of the Royal Navy). The reason for the introduction of the stores was because of the longstanding problem of using green timber in the Navy's ships, which were then subsequently incurring massive expenditures on maintenance.
With the move to ironclads in the mid-1800s, the stores became obsolete by 1860 and subsequently most were demolished. This is the only 16-gable example to survive today. Next door to it (off to the right of image) is a 9-gable version which is also the only example of its type to survive as well - it too now has listed status.
Timber Seasoning Store
Apart from the fact that this building has 16 gables - how often do you see that? - there's little on first sight to recommend this structure as worthy of any particular interest. However, Historic England gave it Grade II* listed status in 1999.
The building was designed in 1771 by the Navy Board and is an early example of modular design as structures of this design quickly appeared in numbers in all of the naval dockyards.
The structure consists of a single-storey weather-boarded timber frame built on a brick plinth with a corrugated asbestos roof. The building is 200 feet long and 45 feet deep.
There are double doors in each of the gables, all being louvred above. At the ends are louvred sides with five metal-framed windows. Inside, there are three bays deep with bracketed posts, with racks for stacking sawn timber, and timber trusses.
The seasoning sheds were introduced by order of John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich during his third (!) period as First Lord of the Admiralty (political head of the Royal Navy). The reason for the introduction of the stores was because of the longstanding problem of using green timber in the Navy's ships, which were then subsequently incurring massive expenditures on maintenance.
With the move to ironclads in the mid-1800s, the stores became obsolete by 1860 and subsequently most were demolished. This is the only 16-gable example to survive today. Next door to it (off to the right of image) is a 9-gable version which is also the only example of its type to survive as well - it too now has listed status.