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!

The Dry Dock and Timber Pond in Pembroke Dockyard (Part 3)

How the Pembroke Dockyard is Used  - with Plans for Its Future Too!

The diagram below shows what I believe to be the current usage and proposed usage of Pembroke Dockyard.

I would be delighted to receive more information that might correct or add to the diagram.

Dockyard Buildings under Threat - These are structures that I believe are to be filled in or destroyed by Milford Haven Port Authority (MHPA)and replaced by concrete slab.

Dockyard Wall - The line of the present existing dockyard wall. Parts of this are due to be demolished by MHPA.

Ferry Terminal - Land used by the Irish Ferry operation. This includes customs, parking etc. The area may be more extensive.

Listed Building - The grades of listing vary from Grade II through Grade II* to Grade I, Grade I being the most important.

Mainstay Marine - Land used by this company. This company is largely owned by MHPA.

Land owned by Pembrokeshire County Council (PCC) - Currently empty and derelict.

PCC Waste Recycling Site - Leased by PCC from MHPA. It is believed that there are about two years left to run on the lease.

Preserved Dockyard Buildings - Many owned by MHPA, some under private ownership.

Super Slip - Surviving slipways 1 and 2 will be converted into one large super slip under current proposals by MHPA.

The Commodore - Privately owned but in a derelict and parlous state.

The Paddock - Former grounds attached to Admiralty House (The Commodore). Owned by MHPA who intend to build on it.

Through Route - MHPA propose to run a route for the movement of large structures through the site.

Waste Transfer Area - Area subject to development as a waste transfer facility, subject to a recent successful application for a license from Natural Resources Wales. A strange one this - perhaps it enables the acquisition of extra funding to carry out works on the western part of the yard? Just a hypothesis.

Unshaded areas on the map are those for which I have no information as yet.

I have yet to see MHPA's latest version of the plans they have for Pembroke Dockyard, so I have not include sheds and other buildings that they propose to build.

If you have anything to add to this post that will improve its veracity, or any other comments, please let me know.

[Edit on 11 March 2020:I have been told that this is a terrible map. Perhaps done in haste - It was quite easy to do on Google Earth. I will see If I can improve on it. Might take a few days! ]

The Dry Dock and Timber Pond PD (Part 2)

The Timber Pond in Pembroke Dockyard

In the age of wooden ships, naval dockyards (and civilian shipbuilders) used copious amounts of timber. The seasoning of timbers was an important aspect of ship construction if the constructor did not want the vessel to warp and bend unpredictably. Also, there was a need to intentionally bend and shape timbers and it was found that soaking in water made the bending of timbers easier.

By the middle of the nineteenth century it had been found that soaking timbers in salt water before working them allowed suppling or bending to be more easily performed. Also, the salt that impregnated the timber helped in its preservation, particularly if the timber was "in the log".

Originally the timber was stored in a timber pond that was on the foreshore at the the western end of the dockyard, on the beach at the end of what is now Fort Road. Indeed, the stumps of some of the timber piles that penned in the timbers can sometimes be seen during spring tides.

Notice the poles of the old timber pond on the beach at the end of Fort Road c1890

 This end of the dockyard also had a tidal inlet that almost ran, on spring tides, up to the site of the present main entrance of the yard, with Paterchurch on its southern bank. On the northern bank of this inlet the Admiralty dug (or extended) a large limestone quarry for building the eastern end of the yard. This quarry, the source of much of the building stone used in the early years of "The Yard", was later to become an obstacle to extending the works to the west and filling in and levelling the land for further building was to be a major expense. For more information about Paterchurch see my post here.

The diagrams below shows the basic design of the timber pond (Listed Grade II), taken from a the plan of the design held at The National Archives at Kew, London.(TNA Ref: WO 140/486).

Timber Pond with Google Earth Imagery

As above but with some transparency

The Timber Pond

The timber pond at Pembroke Dockyard, (also called the mast pond or pickling pond), is one of the few (perhaps the only?) masonry built example surviving in the British Isles. The quality of the stone work is of its time, crafted in individually cut, carboniferous limestone blocks. Fairly recent inspection reports reveal that the pond is in good condition. It has two large, brick lined, tunnel conduits running into it from the outside world. One of these, in the western wall of the pond, runs to an outfall on the beach at the end of Fort Road. This has a system of sluices and flap seals that can be used to drain and seal the pond as required. The other conduit runs from the north wall of the pond to the southern end of the graving dock, and was (probably?) used to fill the pond with water from the dock.

The diagram below shows this general arrangement of the Western Part of the dockyard. The numbers against some of the older buildings were allocated as part of a separate project to commemorate the Bicentennial of Pembroke Dock in 2014. They were for project identification purposes only.

Some people reading this post may not even be aware of the existing of the Timber Pond, which is hardly surprising, as unless you have access to the western part of the dockyard, it is hidden behind the impressive dockyard wall. Its relative anonymity does not make it any less important in its significance to the heritage of ship building at Pembroke Dock, and indeed Wales and probably the wider UK.

The timber pond c1890

It has been claimed that the timber pond was made redundant in about 1860, with technological advancement in naval architecture that began to introduce the use of iron (and later steel) in the construction of ships. This is not true, as the wood was still an important part of ship construction, not least for the building and fitting of robust masts and rigging for these early iron ships - hence the alternative name for the timber pond - The Mast Pond.  See some examples of such in the picture below.

HMS Penelope. Launched Pembroke Dock 1867

HMS Shannon. Launched Pembroke Dock 1875.

The Milford Haven Port Authority (MHPA) proposes to fill in the pond and cover it with a concrete slab as part of a speculative plan to make Pembroke (Dock) Marine a home for marine energy development. MHPA proposes to the fill the pond in so that damage to the structure is minimal, however, removing the concrete slab and extracting the fill would be a massively expensively task for anyone wishing to uncover the pond in the future. The pond is being effectively destroyed.

View across the drained timber pond from the southern edge looking north-west. 2014

Looking across the pond form the southern edge looking north-east. Not the conduit that leads to the dry dock. This is the block oval near the ramp in the northern wall. 2014

The timber pond in an old photograph, taken for the east. The other buildings visible have been demolished. c1970?

The timber pond appears under the wing tip of this photograph taken from a Pembroke Dock based flying boat in the 1930's.

In my next post I will explain the other dramatic changes that MHPA are planning to make to the western end of the dockyard. I will, in the future, discuss the notion of access for the general public to this, and other areas of the historic dockyard and the reasons why this is restricted at present.

Thanks for taking the trouble to read this post.

Have a good Christmas and very best wishes for 2020.

Thomas Evans Rees and his lease from the Bush Estate

As I mentioned at the end of the last posting, Thomas Rees Evans was a shipwright, which meant he was very skilled in the use and working of wood, so when he took on the lease of one of the first building plots on the eastern extension of North Street, he had access to the materials, the connections and skills to undertake his own home build.

The lease (number 247 in the estate rental book), was dated 8th August 1864 and was to run from Lady Day 1864, for 60 years, expiring on Lady Day 1924. Lady Day was one of the rental quarter days and was also known as the feast of the Annunciation. It is the 25 March.

The plot that he had leased was one of the first sites let on an extension to North Street. It was on the south side of the road, immediately east of the point where the road kinked slightly towards the north. The plot was 30 feet wide (east to west) and 120 feet long (north to south). The tenant had to build a house on the north end of the plot, facing the road, to a plan provided by the lessor (the Bush Estate). The annual rent was to be £1/10/-, payable quarterly.

The cottage had to be built to a single storey, four room design, with the front door only slightly recessed from the pavement.

Fig.1

There was a gap between No. 30 and the house next west on the south side of the street, No. 28. This was to provide space for a road - to be known as Water Street - that would have linked North Street to Albany Street, to the south. 

In Fig.1, the gap between No. 28 and No. 30 was intended to be this road. This land was later divided between the two properties and, as if giving a nod to the origins of the vacant plots, a public footpath was established on the land between, running down to Albany Terrace.

Thomas Evans Rees built his house according to the Bush Estate's recommended plan. This was four roughly equal, squarish rooms, with a corridor or passage running from the front door, through the single-storey cottage, to the door leading to the long garden with its stone built privy at the bottom. An approximate plan of the house is shown in Fig. 2

Fig. 2

During the same year, 1864, Thomas's neighbours were George Cundi, a rigger, who was granted a similar lease for No. 28, to the west of Water Street and to the east of Thomas,  Robert Chittock, a messenger in the dockyard, had a lease for No. 32.

The house at No. 30 benefited from a high standard of workmanship and this is likely to have been the work of Thomas and his work colleagues. Much of the timber within the house came from the dockyard and good use was made of it!

The lease that Thomas had taken on was very specific in what the landlord required of the tenant.

• The lease was for a term of sixty years and at the end of this period, the tenant would be responsible for leaving the premise in good repair.
• A house, to a specific design and of good quality had to be built on the plot within six months of the lease being signed. The landlord's agent would check that the building was built to a good standard.
• If the lessee wished to alter or add to the buildings on the plot, then he first had to seek the approval, in writing, of the agent.
• Once every three years the lessee had to paint, in oil paint,  and with two coats, all the exterior woodwork and metal work to a good standard and at his own cost.
• Likewise, every seven years, internal walls etc had to be painted (with two coats of oil paint) or papered, to a good standard.
• The agent would check on the condition and maintenance of the house by visiting the premises twice each year. The agent could ask for works to be carried out to rectify any deficiencies in maintenance at the lessee's expense.
• The landlord or his workers had a right of access over the property to make repairs to a neighbouring property.
• Any soil or gravel dug up at the premises had to be removed to a location of the landlord's choice.
• The tenant had to make sure that the property was insured against fire each year.
• The lessee was not allowed to engage in any noisy or disturbing activity on the premises.
• The lessee could not assign the tenancy within five years of the end of the term of the tenancy. Any assignment that was made prior to this had to be documented to the landlord within three months of the assignment.

Many of the above conditions were standard terms but nowadays some seem rather heavy-handed, particularly those relating to the building of the house on the plot leased.

When a lessee assigned a tenancy to another person this meant that he  passed the property to the ownership of the new person under the same terms as agreed when the tenancy was first taken out. This meant that the tenancy could be "sold" on to another party or left as part of the lessees estate in a will, provided that the terms of the tenancy were met and that the landlord received all documentation showing what had occurred. This information was then written into the landlord's book of leases.

Thomas built his house, and in one of those rare serendipitous occasions a later buyer, peeling flaking paint from just inside the front door noticed a signature beneath what seemed to be old wallpaper paste. It seemed to be Thomas Evans Rees's signature. As was the custom among painters and decorators, he had signed the plastered wall before papering it. A tangible link to the man who first built the house in about 1864/5, over a century and a half ago.

Fig. 3 - Thomas's signature from the lease.

Fig. 4 - Signature on wall inside front door - with and without enhancement

In the next installment, I will reveal what became of Thomas and his family, but right now I must give thank the archivists at Pembrokeshire Archives who care for the wonderful Bush Estate documents and manuscripts. A true gem of a collection that has been little explored by the public.