The Royal William Victualling Yard in Stonehouse, a suburb of Plymouth, England, was the major victualling depot of the Royal Navy and an important adjunct of Devonport Dockyard. It was designed by the architect Sir John Rennie and was named after King William IV. It was built between 1826 and 1835 and occupies a site of approximately 16acres being half of Western Kings, north of Devil's Point.
The Yard was released from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in 1992 and subsequently passed to the Plymouth Development Corporation. Upon the Corporation's closure in 1999, the Yard was then passed to The South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) who funded and carried out the extensive c. £60m restoration of the structural fabric of the majority of principal buildings and infrastructure within the yard between 1999 and 2008. During this period the buildings were recategorised from Scheduled Monuments to Grade I/II listed buildings. Private sector development partners Urban Splash were then engaged to carry out the specialist conversion of the site into a mixed-use development.
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'.
Plymouth had been involved in victualling the English fleet since the 13th century.[1] 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).
Following the establishment of a Royal Navy Dockyard in what would later be known as Devonport, in 1690, these victualling premises expanded substantially. A new Victualling Office was opened in Lambhay in 1707, overseen by an Agent Victualler.[2] From 1729, brewing took place across the Hamoaze at Southdown, where a cooperage was also established; it was capable of producing up to 80 tuns of beer per week and had its own wharf (again, only accessible at high-tide). In 1745, the Lambhay site was further expanded, with the construction of two bakehouses, a slaughterhouse and several storehouses, as well as a new wharf. (The slaughterhouse was later removed to Devil's Point.)[3] The bakeries were capable of producing 50 tons of bread each week, however, the mills which produced the flour were three-quarters of a mile away, making baking a difficult process; nevertheless, these facilities continued in use until 1831. These mills were leased by the Victualling Commissioners from the Town Corporation. The Victualling Office depended on local farmers for fresh produce to supplement the dry goods it provided; inevitably, the local economy could be significantly affected by the varying needs of the fleet.
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',[4] including:
The wharf in front had a small jetty attached.
Following the establishment of the Royal William Victualling Yard, the old Yard at Lambhay was closed; its buildings were sold in 1835 and from 1847 several of them were used as a Government Emigration Depot. In 1897 they were renamed Elphinstone Barracks, accommodating a torpedo depot of the Royal Engineers, before being demolished in the 1930s.[5]
In 1821 it was decided to centralise Plymouth's victualling provision in a new location. The area then known as 'Cremill Point' was chosen, both for its 'great depth of water' and for its equal proximity to the Dockyard, the Hamoaze and the Sound. In 1824 an Act of Parliament sanctioned the purchase of the site and the Victualling Commissioners appointed John Rennie as architect. Over the next three years, an 8acres area of the northern half of the promontory known as Western King was levelled to provide the site for the new yard, with 370,000 tons of excavated rubble being used to extend the site by a further (reclaimed from the sea), as well as providing stone for building.[6] Convict labour was used for this initial work. Work on the first of the buildings began in late 1827, and on the boundary walls and the basin the following year; in July 1831 the transfer took place of the Victualling offices and stores from the old premises in Lambhay to the new premises in Stonehouse (albeit construction was set to continue until the mid-1830s). Once complete, they were named the Royal William Victualling Yard.
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. No sooner had it been built, however, than the intended function of the Yard began to change: abolition of the Navy beer ration in 1831 meant that beer was only ever brewed in very small quantities in the Yard (just enough for the nearby Naval Hospital and Royal Marine Infirmary); and over time for various reasons (including a steady rise in the Navy's use of tinned food), the Yard came to be use increasingly for storage and less for manufacturing. In 1891, a significant section of the Royal William Yard (including the Brewhouse, Cooperage and Clarence block) was converted into a Royal Naval Ordnance Depot. Nevertheless, the Yard would continue to fulfil a crucial role in provisioning Britain's naval fleet for a further 100 years.
The Royal William Victualling Yard is arranged around a deep basin lined with granite (designed to accommodate half a dozen 'transports' or merchant vessels). This basin provided the main point of access from the sea, although a double set of steps rising from a landing-stage below the Clarence Building provided a fitting entrance for dignitaries arriving by boat. 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. 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. A reservoir to the south provided the Yard with an independent supply of fresh water.[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):
Clarence is now an award-winning conversion comprising 52 contemporary apartments.
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. (A shed was later built to store ships water tanks within the Brewhouse courtyard, where they had been stored from as early as 1840.)[9] The building itself stood empty until 1885, when the west wing was converted into a new slaughterhouse, with cattle lairs, a meat store and a vegetable store; at the same time the east wing functioned as a rum store and the central engine house was repurposed to provide hydraulic power to the Yard's many cranes. Later, for much of the 20th century, the Brewhouse housed a torpedo workshop.
The subject of an award-winning conversion, this building has 78 apartments, together with ground floor commercial space for exhibitions, cafés and restaurants.
In 2015 the eastern half of the outer quadrangle was converted into an arts venue, Ocean Studios; the eastern half was later due to be turned into residential units, with the central quadrangle serving as an 'events space'.[11]
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]
Today it houses offices, a restaurant and retail premises.[16]
The building is now known as Mills Bakery and includes 86 apartments, commercial and office space.
More recently, the Slaughterhouse was used as a centre for building repair and maintenance, before being converted into a restaurant.
It has now been restored and is occupied as a small office space and art studio.
Residence 2 is currently utilised as office space while Residence 1 is now a Boutique Hotel.[21]
Early conservation and restoration work was carried out by Gilmore Hankey Kirke Architects. Together with Acanthus Ferguson Mann Architects they were awarded by the RIBA in the South West region for the Clarence and Brewhouse buildings. The scheme is also a winner of a RIBA 2006 Conservation Awards, which recognise best practice in the field of building conservation. Continued restoration, conservation and conversion of these Georgian Buildings has been carried out by Urban Splash with Gillespie Yunnie Architects. The site is open to the public and offers the 'Tunnel to Firestone Bay' a public basin for visiting boats and restaurants, cafés and public events.