Royal William Victualling Yard
Described as the grandest of the royal victualling yards, 'in its externally largely unaltered state it remains today one of the most magnificent industrial monuments in the country'.
[2] In the 1650s the Commonwealth government built victualling storehouses on Lambhay Hill next to Hoe Fort (which would soon be rebuilt as the Royal Citadel), with manufacturing taking place at various locations around the old harbour and a wharf providing a loading area for ships in Sutton Pool (albeit only accessible at high tide).
[3] From 1729, brewing took place across the Hamoaze at Southdown, where a cooperage was also established;[1] it was capable of producing up to 80 tuns of beer per week and had its own wharf (again, only accessible at high-tide).
[2] Towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Victualling establishment at Lambhay is described as 'an extensive range of buildings lying by the side of the Catwater harbour',[5] including: The wharf in front had a small jetty attached.
The Yard consolidated in one place various victualling activities from around the Plymouth area, including the brewing of beer, the slaughtering of live animals for fresh meat, the manufacture of barrels, the baking of bread and biscuits and the production of flour; as well as providing space for administration, accommodation and large amounts of storage.
The Royal William Victualling Yard is arranged around a deep basin lined with granite (designed to accommodate half a dozen 'transports' or merchant vessels).
A tunnel entrance was also provided, giving access from Firestone Bay (on the opposite side of the promontory), where boats could be landed in the event of vessels being prevented (e.g. by a strong tide or adverse weather) from reaching the basin.
[2] The main access from land was (and is) through a grand gateway at the end of Cremyll Street, a high wall having been built around the landward portion of the site for its security.
[7] The Royal William Yard includes a collection of Grade I and Grade II listed buildings, built from Devon limestone with granite detailing, arranged around the square basin; these include (East to West): Positioned at the opposite end of the yard to the gatehouse, the Clarence building closes the vista along the main thoroughfare.
Begun in 1827 (the first structure to be built on the site), it was originally used as a liquid store with one floor each of spirits, vinegar and beer (use of iron for the roof, doors, windows etc.
Although purpose built in 1832, it was never actually equipped as a brewhouse since emerging technology was allowing large quantities of fresh water to be carried at sea, eliminating the need for the beer rations.
Originally a combination of workshops, offices and storage/seasoning space (built around a pair of concentric quadrangles) the cooperage accommodated 100 coopers to make the barrels and kegs in which the produce of the Yard could be stored and transported.
In 1869, however, the Navy decided to concentrate the majority of its barrel manufacturing work at Deptford;[2] the coopers' skills were still required at Stonehouse (for repairs and production of smaller items) but their numbers declined over time until only 12 were employed.
[14] In 2023 work was underway to create 40 flats within the Melville block; other parts of the building contain offices, restaurants, a gym and a cinema.
[15] Sixty years after the Yard was completed, the New Cooperage was built to house the coopers and others tradesmen displaced by the Naval Ordnance Board and its workshops.
The southern range contained the bakery, with two sets of six ovens, back-to-back either side of the central spine wall (beneath a row of four square chimneys).
[16] These two grand houses were built for civil service officers in the Royal William Yard and were continuously occupied as homes until shortly after Plymouth Development Corporation took over ownership.
