PART THREE PORTSMOUTH DOCKYARD IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY1 3.1 INTRODUCTION The twentieth century topography of Portsmouth Dockyard can be related first to the geology and geography of Portsea Island and secondly to the technological development of warships and their need for appropriately sized and furnished docks and basins. In 2013, Portsmouth Naval Base covered 300 acres of land, with 62 acres of basin, 17 dry docks and locks, 900 buildings and 3 miles of waterfront (Bannister, 10 June 2013a). The Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust (Heritage Area) footprint is 11.25 acres (4.56 hectares) which equates to 4.23% of the land area of the Naval Base or 3.5% of the total Naval Base footprint including the Basins (Duncan, 2013). From 8 or 9 acres in 1520–40 (Oppenheim, 1988, pp. 88-9), the dockyard was increased to 10 acres in 1658, to 95 acres in 1790, and gained 20 acres in 1843 for the steam basin and 180 acres by 1865 for the 1867 extension (Colson, 1881, p. 118). Surveyor Sir Baldwin Wake Walker warned the Admiralty in 1855 and again in 1858 that the harbour mouth needed dredging, as those [ships] of the largest Class could not in the present state of its Channel go out of Harbour, even in the event of a Blockade, in a condition to meet the Enemy, inasmuch as the insufficiency of Water renders it impossible for them to go out of Harbour with all their Guns, Coals, Ammunition and Stores on board. He noted further in 1858 that the harbour itself “is so blocked up by mud that there is barely sufficient space to moor the comparatively small Force at present there,” urging annual dredging to allow the larger current ships to moor there. (Quoted by Hamilton, 2005, pp. 46-7) Paradoxically the 1867 extension derived from the increasing needs of the steam navy, and the completion of HMS Warrior and Palmerston’s circle of forts surrounding Portsmouth to protect the dockyard from a steam driven naval attack. By 1860 Portsmouth needed longer docks and deeper basins for the ironclads, to maintain its strategic position in the Channel. As the eighteenth century fortifications surrounding Portsea were “no longer required for defensive works”, the land was transferred from the War Department to the Admiralty, the remainder consisting of Pesthouse Field. (Hamilton, 2005, pp. xxix-xxx, xxxvi, 57-61; House of Commons, 1860, Report of the Royal Commission appointed to consider the defences of the United Kingdom; Chapman, 1978, pp. 3, 4, 6, 9) The remaining five acres comprised further small parcels acquired in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Victoria Road followed the seventeenth century shoreline. The rising gradient from Victoria Road, south along the Parade is notable in front of the Brass and Iron Foundry (1/140) at SU630624 007854. Historic England maps MD95/03032 (1850–1955), MD95/03033 (1898) and MD95/03034 (1900) show pre-twentieth century development and the situation at the beginning of the twentieth century. Fig. 188. MD95/03032. (1850 annotated to 1955). Plan of Portsmouth Dockyard in 1900 showing development and enlargement from 1540 to 1900, PSA Drawing shows Portsea fortifications and Pesthouse Field, over which much of Area 3 was constructed, based on 1850 map showing changes in yellow and later buildings in red dotted lines. Reproduced by permission of Historic England. Fig. 189. MD95/03033. (1898). Second Edition Ordnance Survey, Hampshire Sheet LXXXIII.7. Reproduced by permission of Historic England. 1 A bold Fig. no. indicates that the image is captioned more than once in Part 1 and/or Part 3, leading to some numbers appearing to be out of sequence. 105 Twentieth Century Naval Dockyards Devonport and Portsmouth: Characterisation Report Fig. 190. MD95/03034 (1900). Her Majesty’s Dockyard at Portsmouth showing development and enlargement from 1540 to 1900. Reproduced by permission of Historic England. Fig. 191. MD95/03039 (1936). Plan Showing Proposed Revision of Boundary of HM Dockyard Portsmouth. Reproduced by permission of Historic England. Three topographical areas characterise an accelerated evolution of scale and function within Portsmouth’s operational naval base, determining to a great extent the architecture of the buildings. Buildings are listed by area in the MoD (1974) HM Naval Base Building Location Numerical Index, the HM Naval Base Property Register (HMNBPR, 1992) and BAES (2013) Dockyard (Portsmouth) Revised Building List. A fourth area comprises HMS Nelson Barracks but excludes HMS Nelson Wardroom. Area 1: Sail (fifteenth to nineteenth centuries) Area 2: Steam (nineteenth to twentieth centuries) Area 3: Coal to oil to electricity (nineteenth to twentieth centuries). Coal facilities were decommissioned in 1914 and oil in the 1990s; gas turbines; selected Avcat (aviation gas) fired; electricity: engines replaced externally following their use in commercial liners. Area 4: HMS Nelson accommodation and services. This is excluded from the three operational areas, but is contained within the Naval Base. It lies between the 1865 boundary wall and the current perimeter wall. Design of these buildings was not driven by marine technology, but social and domestic considerations. Some date from 1847, but most from the 1899 to the late twentieth century. Fig. 192. H M Naval Dockyard, Portsmouth: Miscellaneous. Sketch plan of naval establishments, showing Portsea, Gosport, Haslar and Bedenham (section). Drawing no. B4. Scale not shown. Director of Works, Admiralty. TNA (1910). WORK 41/310. Reproduced with the permission of The National Archives. Fig. 193. H M Naval Dockyard, Portsmouth: Miscellaneous. Dredging progress chart, 1935–1938: section showing depths and hatching of work executed during 1935–1936. TNA (1936). WORK 41/311. Reproduced with the permission of The National Archives. Fig. 194. H M Naval Dockyard, Portsmouth: Miscellaneous. Dredging progress chart, 1935–1938: section showing the hatching key. TNA (1936). WORK 41/311. Reproduced with the permission of The National Archives. Fig. 195. MoD (1974) HM Naval Base Portsmouth Building Location/Numerical Index map showing the three operational areas. Reproduced with the permission of the MoD. Fig. 196. HM Naval Base Portsmouth, Site Plan. Ministry of Defence: Defence Infrastructure Organisation (2012). Reproduced with the permission of the MoD. The three operational periods/areas are detailed in the MoD (1974) HM Naval Base Building Location map and BAES (BAE Systems) 2013 map. Dockyard (Portsmouth) Revised Building List. Commander Lambert’s (1993) unpublished Portsmouth Dockyard and its Environs. A Chronological History, based on the HM Naval Base Property Register (1992), has also been very informative on details and changes which were known within the dockyard, but which might not otherwise have been recorded. Data from the three successive lists can build up a sequence of recent events. This survey of Portsmouth Dockyard buildings with twentieth century significance follows the numerical sequence of the MoD (1974) and BAES (2013) lists, constructed during three historical sequences: Georgian (Area 1), early and later Victorian (Area 2) and twentieth century (Area 3), considering changes that have been effected in the twentieth century. The substantive listing of each structure will be accompanied by its date of origin, if known, its dockyard building number, its 106 Part 3: Twentieth century Portsmouth Dockyard scheduled/listed status and number and Conservation Area Number (CA) where applicable, whether it is occupied by the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust (PNBPT), MoD or BAE Systems (BAES) (about 10% of the buildings are owned by BAES) and its grid reference. Thus Boathouse No. 6 notation is (1845, 1/23, Grade II* 1244594, CA 22, PNBPT, SU 630466 004237). Conservation Area 22 covers the southeastern sector enclosed by the original dockyard wall to the north and Victoria Road to the west; Conservation Area 18 includes the Naval Barracks listed buildings. Listing and scheduling descriptions can be consulted in Appendix 4. Descriptions derive from field visits and archival or published sources. Part 3’s Appendix summarises the most significant twentieth century changes Within the twentieth century naval base new buildings were erected or existing structures modified because of successive technologies, fire damage and Second World War bombing. However, one of the most significant changes affecting Portsmouth Naval Base in the twentieth century has been the MoD release in 1985 of the south western quarter of Area 1 to become a heritage area. This has resulted in modifications of the built environment through refurbishment and conversion of storehouses, boathouses, workshops and docks into museums. PNBPT was established on 14 November 1985 by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Portsmouth City Council under a 99-year lease. It was granted £6 million by the MoD to maintain buildings in the 11.25 acre heritage area, following their redundancy for naval base purposes (Riley, 1987). This was a significant change of management style, with the PNBPT behaving like a commercial property development agency and an historic buildings trust, specialising in the preservation and re-use of historic buildings and structures within Portsmouth Dockyard heritage area, contributing to its ambience and funding. This separation led to the installation in 1987 of a security fence and two Security Offices (1/101 and 1/102) in Main Road. The heritage area comprises mostly Georgian buildings, but includes some Victorian and twentieth century buildings. However, a larger number of Georgian buildings still remain within the naval base. Three museums pre-dated this development. First, in 1903 Mark Edwin Pescott-Frost (1859–1953), Secretary to the Portsmouth Admiral Superintendent, ‘began collecting artefacts and historical items relating to Portsmouth Dockyard. By 1906 the collection had grown and Pescott-Frost was able to persuade the Admiral Superintendent to allocate space at the end of the Great Ropehouse to be used for a Dockyard museum. The museum was opened in 1911.’ (PRDHT History; National Portrait Gallery) Postcards in the possession of George Malcolmson indicate that it was in one of the three Georgian storehouses.