This was one of several such facilities which were established around Britain and the Empire by the Board of Ordnance, where cannons, ammunition and other armaments were stored, repaired and serviced ready for use on land or at sea.

Later known as HMS Vernon, the military site closed in 1995, and opened to the public as Gunwharf Quays on 28 February 2001[1] after six years of reconstruction (which included the restoration of some of the surviving 18th and 19th-century Gun Wharf buildings).

[2] An Ordnance Yard (the Old Gun Wharf) was established on land reclaimed from the sea to the north of the old Mill Pond (which survives today as the canal) in 1706.

[7] The Grand Storehouse was mirrored by a similarly sizeable "Sea Service Store" on the Old Gun Wharf (later remodelled to serve as the Warrior naval accommodation block).

[10] HMS Vernon suffered extensive damage during the Blitz, but a number of historic structures survived, some of which have been restored as part of the Gunwharf Quays development.