[1] Hill House (which had served as lodgings for the Navy Board and as the principal administrative building of the Dockyard from the sixteenth to the early eighteenth century) was demolished to make way for the barracks.

[2] The site was bounded by two alleyways: one to the north, running along the southern boundary of the Dockyard, which led from the road to the 'New Stairs' at the riverside; and the other to the south, named Church or Cat Lane.

[3] Externally the three blocks were of similar appearance, each presenting a uniform front to the parade ground with windows equally spaced, and topped by a shallow roof behind a parapet.

[9] Built of brick and stucco, the hospital consisted of three parallel ward blocks linked in front by a covered walkway behind a colonnade.

When opened the infirmary had beds for around 230 patients;[11] its first chief medical officer was Dr (later Sir) John Richardson.

[11] There were, however, comparatively few Royal Navy personnel at Chatham at that time, as it was by then primarily a building yard rather than a base for the fleet.

[17] By the end of the century it was widely acknowledged that the Melville Hospital did not have the capacity adequately to serve the growing numbers of naval personnel in Chatham.

[18] Following the closure of Melville Hospital, its buildings were taken over by the Royal Marines and converted into additional barracks accommodation.