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Chatham Historic Dockyard

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Coordinates: 51°23′48″N 0°31′46″E / 51.39680°N 0.52940°E / 51.39680; 0.52940
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Dockyard Plan of 1774, reproduced on an information panel adjacent to the former South Mast Pond (shown highlighted in red).

The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a maritime museum on part of the site of the former royal/naval dockyard at Chatham in Kent, South East England.

Chatham Dockyard covered 400 acres (1.6 km2) and was one of the Royal Navy's main facilities for several hundred years until it was closed in 1984. After closure the dockyard was divided into three sections. The easternmost basin was handed over to Medway Ports and is now a commercial port, although the landowner plans to close it in 2025.[1] Another slice was converted into a mixed commercial, residential and leisure development. 80 acres (324,000 m2), comprising the 18th-century core of the site, was transferred to a charity called the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust and is now open as a visitor attraction. It claims to be the world's most complete dockyard of the age of sail.[2]

Exhibits and displays

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HMS Gannet.
HMS Ocelot on display, with an anti-aircraft gun to the right as part of a display on the Dockyard and the V1 rocket.
Model of HMS Victory, on display in the Museum of the Royal Dockyard.
No.1 Smithery, Chatham Historic Dockyard

The attraction has seven main elements:

The entrance to 'Command of the Oceans', which was entered into the 2017 Stirling Prize
  • A new project for 2014 was Command of the Oceans. This was possible due to £4.53m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Also the project got a £3m contribution from the Homes and Communities Agency. A new entrance was built on the north side of the visitor attraction, and a discovery centre linking the former naval base with other significant heritage sites including Fort Amherst, the Great Lines Heritage Park (between Gillingham and Chatham) and Upnor Castle. This all became possible after the remains of the Namur warship was discovered under the floor of the Wheelwrights' Shop in 1995.[6] In 2017, the Command of the Oceans display was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize for excellence in architecture.[7]

Workers at the dockyard performed eight years of restoration work on the MV Havengore, the ceremonial vessel that carried the body of Winston Churchill during his state funeral. In addition the dockyard acted as custodian of artefacts, masts and rigging from the Cutty Sark and the Medway Queen, while their hulls were being restored elsewhere.

The interior of the ropery
  • Records of the ships built at Chatham go back to 1646.[8]
  • Chatham Dockyard had one of the best technical schools in England, it housed the first Dockyard School followed by Devonport and Portsmouth. It accepted students from overseas dockyards such as Gibraltar and Malta.
  • Some of the hundreds of warships built at the Chatham Royal Dockyard may still be seen. These preserved ships include:
    • HMS Victory (100-gun first rate, i.e. ship of the line launched 1765, preserved in dry dock at Portsmouth, England, UK; Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar)
    • HMS Unicorn (54-gun fifth rate – launched 1824, preserved afloat at Dundee, Scotland, UK)
    • HMS Ocelot (S17) ("O" class submarine – launched 5 May 1962, preserved in dry dock at Chatham).

Dockyard railway

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The site is also home to a dockyard railway that has a diverse collection of locomotives and rolling stock, some of which can be seen in operation throughout the year.

Steam Locomotives

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Builder Wheel
arrangement 		Number and name Build date Notes Photograph
Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns 0-4-0ST 7042 Ajax 1941 Operational, boiler ticket expires in 2022. Has spent all of its life at Chatham Dockyard
Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST 2220 Invicta 1946 Undergoing restoration. Spent all of its working life at Chatham Dockyard. Listed for sale in 2022.

Diesel Locomotives

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Builder Wheel
arrangement 		Number and name Build date Notes Photograph
Andrew Barclay 0-4-0DM 357/WD42 Overlord 1941 Operational. Often on display in the military exhibition.
F.C. Hibberd 4wDM 3738 Rochester Castle 1955 Operational, has spent all of its life at Chatham Dockyard.
Drewry 0-4-0DM 2503 Thalia 1954 Operational

Use in TV and other media

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The Historic Dockyard Chatham spans 80 acres, has over 100 buildings and structures dating from the Georgian and Victorian periods to the present day, thus making it an attractive location for period filming over the years.

Some of the shows/films to have used the facilities and locations at Chatham Dockyard are:[9]

In 2020, some scenes for Belgravia (TV series) were filmed at the dockyard.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "800 jobs on the line at port". Kent Online. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  2. ^ Chatham World Heritage Archived 1 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Good Stuff IT Services. "The Ropery and Spinning Room – Medway – Medway – England". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  4. ^ Good Stuff IT Services. "Number 1 Smithery – Medway – Medway – England". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  5. ^ The Dockyard: News[permanent dead link‍]
  6. ^ Hughes, Rebecca (29 November 2013). "Major cash boost for Chatham's Historic Dockyard Command of the Oceans project". kentonline.co.uk. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  7. ^ Wainwright, Oliver (19 July 2017). "Stirling prize 2017 shortlist: from a cool crowdfunded pier to a giant hole in the ground". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  8. ^ The Historic Dockyard Chatham Guide Book
  9. ^ "The Historic Dockyard Chatham – Kent Film Office". kentfilmoffice.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  10. ^ "Where is ITV's Belgravia filmed?". Radio Times. 12 April 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2021. Here's where you'll find the lavish London homes and ancestral country houses in Julian Fellowes' new period drama Belgravia
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51°23′48″N 0°31′46″E / 51.39680°N 0.52940°E / 51.39680; 0.52940

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