Royal Dockyard Pembroke - The Reason that Pembroke Dock Exists - 2

 Heritage Under Threat - 2

Figure 1

This post continues the discussion about Milford Haven Port Authority's planning application to destroy the unique assemblage of naval construction heritage monuments at Pembroke Dockyard, Pembrokeshire in Wales. Part 1 of this series of blog posts can be found here.

The listed heritage monuments under threat include:

• The Timber Pond (Listed Grade II)
• The Graving Dock (Listed Grade II*)
• Slip 1 (Listed Grade II)
• Slip 2 (Listed Grade II)
• Foreman’s Office or former guard house (Listed Grade II)

This post is  about the Graving Dock.

The Graving Dock (Listed Grade II*)

The advertisement in Figure 1 is from a guide to Pembroke from the 1960s. It shows what is known as the Graving Dock (Listed Grade II*), which was operated at this time by R. S. Hayes as a ship repair and refitting facility. The illustration is pretty accurate and I remember the dark crane being a feature of the skyline of Pembroke Dockyard when I was a child

Why is it called a Graving Dock?  Titanic Belfast provides a very clear explanation:

The word 'graving' is an obsolete nautical term for the scraping, cleaning, painting, or tarring of an underwater body. Combined with the word 'dock' a graving dock refers to an enclosed basin into which a ship is taken for underwater cleaning or repair.

For some more information and pictures of the Graving Dock in Pembroke Dockyard you can also look here.

Originally the dock was much smaller, but it was extended later in the nineteenth century as the size of warships increased.  Figure 2 shows the graving dock as it is today. It is silted and has had some soil pushed into it to form a ramp for vehicles to gain access to the bottom of the dock.

The rusting object immediately in front of the camera is the old floating gate or caisson for the dock.

Figure 2

The next picture, Figure 3 is a much older photograph taken from the floor of the dock, but it gives a better view of the end of the caisson. You will notice a timber strip than runs down the side of the caisson. Both ends of the caisson have the same strip of timber and when in use it was capable of floating in the dock, just like a small ship.

Figure 3

Figure 4 shows the other end of the graving dock that is now open to the sea. In the wall you will notice a slot that runs from the top of the dock wall to the base. This is the slot for the timber strip on the end of the caisson.

Figure 4

When it was required to allow a ship into the dock, the caisson had air pumped out of its ballast tanks and, at high tide, was towed to one side of the entrance to the dock (outside the dock). The ship would be floated into the dock and once suitably positioned, the caisson would be maneuvred back to the entrance and its ballast tanks would be slowly flooded, allowing the caisson to sink, whilst engaging the wooden strips at each end  within the slots on either side of the entrance.

When the caisson had sunk to the bottom of the dock (which was of hard masonary) a steam pump would begin to pump the water out of the dry dock. The ship would slowly sink and the keel carefully positioned onto blocks at the botton of the dock. As the water was pumped out and the ship settled, it would need to be stabilised by wooden posts which were wedged against the stepped side of the dock. These would hold the ship upright. The caisson would be pretty water tight and any leaks could be stopped up with caulking.

The reason why a caisson was used instead of conventional hinged gates was that the hinges and dock gates, by their nature, narrowed the entrance to the graving dock. The caisson, on the other hand could be floated to one side, out of the way.

To refloat a ship (or ships) in the dock, the procedure was reversed. Water was pumped back into the dock as the tide was rising. It is believed that the Timber Pond served as a supply of water for the pumps, as the two structures are connected by pipes and conduits. When the dock had enough water in it to float the ship, but the level being lower than the sea level outside, the caisson would have air pumped into the ballast tanks and would slowly lift off the bottom of the dock, thus allowing the water levels inside and outside the dock to equalise. The caisson was then moved to one side and the ship floated out into open water.

[Edit: I have finally found the plan below after days of hunting. The plan will give you a better idea of the form of the Graving Dock at Pembroke Dock Yard. See Figure 4a.]

Figure 4a

A Possible Alternative Use for the Graving Dock?

Instead of burying the dock, covering it in concrete and placing a 40 metre high shed  on top of this base - some alternatives:

• Reinstate the Graving Dock and use it to hoste Tall Ships for refit, cleaning and maintenance in the "off-season";
•  Permanently dock an historic vessel and have the ship open for visitors. The site, in concert with the other monuments being discussed, could be coordinated and run by the the West Wales Maritime Trust or a specifically constituted not-for profit organisation;
• Seal the dock and convert it into a theatre or other open air performance space, adapting the structure but retaining its original form;

As with the Timber Pond (Listed Grade II), the Graving Dock (Listed Grade II*) is part of a unique range of monuments that lay testament to the reason why Pembroke Dock came into existence. With much of the industrial dockyard water frontages having been destroyed on the eastern side of the yard, it is vitally important that this part of the dockyard is preserved so that future generations can have at least some small appreciation of what the place meant in its hey-day.

Leaving these monuments to just sit there and deteriorate is not a long term solution, but it is certainly better than burying them and losing the value of what they mean to the town. Restricted access to the area, hidden behind tall walls, has not allowed the residents of Pembroke Dock and much further afield to appreciate what was once here and to understand why Pembroke Dock, in the nineteenth and first part of the twentieth century was a town with a huge reserve of skilled and hard working men and women. They literally built up a thriving community in a far flung corner of Wales, applying their dockyard skills to their homes, gardens and community buildings.

This is why there must be a change of direction and commitment from those who would use the town to suit their own needs at the expense of others. Revive these derelict places and make a good living from them. The town does not need to be robbed of its unique heritage by others who should know better.

Moving on.....

The shed that it is intended to place on top of the Graving Dock, is not as long as the one to be built over the Timber Pond, (see my previous post), but at a height of 40 metres, it is still very massive. I showed some images  produced for Milford Haven Port Authority by by their contractor RPS in my previous post. These give some impression of the effect that such buildings will have on the dockyard, town and its surroundings. I will show a small part of one photograph to illustrate the point further, but first let me set the scene.

The photograph below, Figure 5, shows the Oakum Store. This was an important building in the Ministry of Defence part of the dockyard, before the MOD relinquished it. It is a beautiful, well built late Georgian  building that is now the offices of Mainstay Marine Solutions (more about this company in a future post).

Figure 5

Figure 6

The Oakum Store was used to store oakum! The oakum was used to seal gaps in the wooden planking of ships - a practice known as caulking.

The Graving Dock is located behind (to the north-west) of the Oakum Store. Immediately to the north of this grey limestone building, across the road, is one of the covered slips or fabrication areas that are used by Mainstay Marine Solutions in their work. It appears as the white building in Figure 5.

The Oakum Store has always been one of the landmark buildings that was visible from the Barrack Hill, the high ground to the south of the dockyard. The next photograph shows the Oakum Store with the new shed over the buried Graving Dock as proposed. It gives scale to the real size of the proposed shed that will cover the buried Graving Dock. See Figure 7.

Figure 7

This project is both destructive and oppressive and I do not believe that it should be allowed. You should decide for yourself.

Please do get involved and contact Pembrokeshire County Council with your views. Comments about the planning application can be made by following the instructions at the link below:

https://www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/planning-applications/commenting-on-applications

The planning application has the reference: 20/0732/PA

The official deadline for comments is: 29 January 2021

However, there is a very strong case for extending this, as despite Milford Haven Port Authority's efforts to subvert the planning process by submitting the application at the start of the Christmas break, when everyone else has other things on their mind, there are several extenuating circumstances that should be taken into account.

• The application is for an outline consent, but contains so much detail that there is very little left for future consideration should the application be passed;
• There are over 120 documents submitted as part of the application. These could possibly be read on the PCC planning website, but are so mixed up, inappropriately labelled when downloaded that they make for very difficult and disjointed reading;
• Important information is missing from the application that would describe the overall impact of the scheme in a transparent way - for example the set of montage views from various viewpoints that show waht the sheds would look like when built - the view from Llanreath would be an interesting one!;
• The scheme is VERY speculative and there is little eidence of actual need for what is proposed;
• There are alternative sites that MHPA part own, some of which would directly support and utilise  local employers, that have not been given adequate consideration;
• If  alternative sites are used then this would open up the western dockyard as a wonderful tourism, heritage, boating and watersports venue - a truly all year stopover attraction on the way to Ireland;
• Working in partnership with another organisation (apart from PCC who are strategic partners , I believe) has not, as far as I am aware, been explored in any great depth. Remember, PCC is the planning authority who will decide on the outcome of this scheme;

I will write more about the other monuments in this scheme in future posts. 

As always, Thanks - Keep safe and keep well!