2018

SX4653 : Royal William Yard - cooperage

taken 6 years ago, near to Cremyll, Cornwall, England

Royal William Yard - cooperage
Royal William Yard - cooperage
Grade II listed. LinkExternal link
Royal William Victualling Yard

The Royal William Victualling Yard occupies virtually the whole of the Devil's Point peninsula - about 18 acres - to the south of Stonehouse within the conurbation of Plymouth.
The Yard was given Royal Assent on June 3rd 1824 during the reign of King George IV, but was not completed until 9 years later by which time George had died and his brother William had become King William IV. So the Yard was named after this latter monarch on 3rd December 1833.
The architects of this fine set of buildings (much admired by the architectural historian, Pevsner) were Sir John Rennie the Younger (1794-1874) and Philip Richards, and the contractor was Hugh McIntosh. The cost of the building was estimated at £2,000,000 which in the early C19th was a colossal amount of money, equivalent to billions today.
The original purpose of the Yard, as its name suggests, was to supply victuals - that is food, drink and provisions - for the Royal Navy. With the burgeoning British Empire in the C19th, the Navy grew in size dramatically, and so therefore did its requirement for victuals. This Yard therefore played an important part in "oiling the wheels" of the vast machine that was the Royal Navy. Not only food items but uniforms and all the general paraphernalia required by the Navy's ships (other than munitions etc.) was stored here. In addition the yard contained a brewery, a slaughterhouse, mill, bakehouse and, essentially, a huge cooperage. Barrels made by the coopers were required in vast quantities to store the provisions on board the ships - not just liquids such as beer, but salted meats etc.
As the character of the Royal Navy changed over the decades, so the Yard had to adapt; and during the C20th, with the decline in Britain's maritime supremacy, the Yard suffered a similar decline. In 1992 the Navy gave up ownership of the land and buildings and they passed into private hands. Since then the Grade I listed buildings have had numerous uses, but are now undergoing major renovations and conversion into apartments, businesses, restaurants and galleries.

Listed Buildings and Structures

Listed buildings and structures are officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance. There are over half a million listed structures in the United Kingdom, covered by around 375,000 listings.
Listed status is more commonly associated with buildings or groups of buildings, however it can cover many other structures, including bridges, headstones, steps, ponds, monuments, walls, phone boxes, wrecks, parks, and heritage sites, and in more recent times a road crossing (Abbey Road) and graffiti art (Banksy 'Spy-booth') have been included.

In England and Wales there are three main listing designations;
Grade I (2.5%) - exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important.
Grade II* (5.5%) - particularly important buildings of more than special interest.
Grade II (92%) - nationally important and of special interest.

There are also locally listed structures (at the discretion of local authorities) using A, B and C designations.

In Scotland three classifications are also used but the criteria are different. There are around 47,500 Listed buildings.
Category A (8%)- generally equivalent to Grade I and II* in England and Wales
Category B (51%)- this appears generally to cover the ground of Grade II, recognising national importance.
Category C (41%)- buildings of local importance, probably with some overlap with English Grade II.

In Northern Ireland the criteria are similar to Scotland, but the classifications are:
Grade A (2.3%)
Grade B+ (4.7%)
Grade B (93%)

Read more at Wikipedia LinkExternal link


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright N Chadwick and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Royal William Yard [310] · Grade I Listed [151] · Cooperage [30] Title Clusters: · Royal William Yard - cooperage [6] ·
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SX4653, 698 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
N Chadwick   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Sunday, 5 August, 2018   (more nearby)
Submitted
Wednesday, 9 January, 2019
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SX 4616 5356 [10m precision]
WGS84: 50:21.7073N 4:9.8551W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SX 4614 5357
View Direction
Southeast (about 135 degrees)
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Image Type (about): geograph 
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