Exercise 1.2: Mapping the Interior
No. 3 Slip.
For more than four centuries The Historic Dockyard Chatham was one of Britain’s most important centres of warship building and repair. Over 400 warships were built here, allowing the Royal Navy to dominate the seas of Europe and beyond. Today it is the world’s most complete dockyard of the Age of Sail.
No. 3 Covered Slip is situated within The Historic Dockyard. Built in 1838, the immense Slip, when built, was the largest wide span timber structure in Europe. Today it is home to a vast array of epic objects and vehicles from both the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust and Royal Engineers Museum. No.3 Slip stands at the cusp of technological change, its amazing cantilever roof was built to the design of shipwright Sir Robert Seppings.
The building is now used as a combined display and storage facility to house large artefacts from the collections of The Historic Dockyard and the Royal Engineers Museum. These include a WW2 midget submarine (See video below), the Victorian railway carriage used by General Kitchener in Sudan and ‘Overlord’, a railway locomotive used in the D Day landings. It is now one of the world’s most dramatic museum open stores.
The entrance is a vast open wall, this makes the building very welcoming and as previously mentioned in my last research on this building, I think having such an entrance attracts visitors attention. Visitors seem to turn to this building first when entering the Historical Dockyard which is made of hundreds of historical buildings, I believe its because of the vast openness of the entrance and the sheer size of the building. The flooring is disturbed by two different directed train tracks running through it which seem to disappear into the vast space inside.
The plan of the building is a U-shaped aisled single-depth. Single storey-ed weather boarded walls with wide, low small-pained windows. A very large mansard shaped roof has 2 tiers of continuous roof lights and is curved round at the entrance end with shallow hips and tiers of roof lights to each section.
Timber roofs were introduced over the dry docks in navy yards from 1814, because of the rapid rate of deterioration of timber ships exposed during construction to the weather. The trusses are supported by the cantilever effect of the overhang beyond the posts. At the time they were the widest roof spans in the country, and this is the largest of the three surviving examples, (the others are at Devonport, Plymouth).
There is a pathway which is to be followed on the ground floor, guided by ropes and arrows, this takes you around the various historical boats, weapons and machinery, it then leads you towards the upper mezzanine floor but the upper zone has a sign which clearly states you can miss this out as its not for the faint hearted due to the height at which the upper level is situated and I guess the raw floor (which in some places you can see through). By the 1850s the length of ships had outgrown the slipway and in 1904 the mezzanine floor was inserted to create a store for ships’ boats. The mezzanine floor is now a void space with no objects. Visitors can fully experience the grandeur of the roof here. It is a space visitors seem to use for reflection on the building alone, there is nothing more to concentrate on …I love this and I am not sure if this was the intention for this space since opening to the public (to be left untouched and empty) or rather it has to be empty perhaps due to the floor now being untrustworthy, can it hold weight? On my last few visits to the building the upper mezzanine has been closed to the public. I wonder if it is now unsafe for the public to visit?
From both outside and inside the building you can see the exposed skeleton and the beginning of the structure. Another raw feature which I think is both beautiful and educational. In fact the structural support of the building resembles bones in certain light. Such structural supports are typically hidden by an extra layer of construction such as plaster, brick, concrete, paint etc.
Above are birds eye view sketches of the huge building which resides right along the river Medway. I assume the building is approximately 50 metres wide and at least double this in length (100m).
The objects stored within the building such as historical boats, lifeboats and war machinery look at home in their surroundings. The building and its contents are of similar age and all seem to have a connection with war. The building is full of damp and musky hues, which again suit its purpose. It resembles that of a museum where any historical objects are kept. They all seem to come with a distinct sharp musky odour which for me heightens the atmosphere and causes a reflective state of mind on the history of the people that interacted with such objects and the stories (both happy and sad) they hold if only they had a voice. How have they ended up here? Why have they ended up here? At the end of the pathway one of the very last objects to pass is a midget submarine – See video.
The building is cold and inhabitable due to the huge wall opening entrance, used concrete floors, damaged structure, gaps, cracks, breaks in the glass of the windows, chunks missing from the walls and flooring. There is no heating or air conditioning, no seating for visitors yet the atmosphere feels welcoming perhaps due to the roped pathway which acts as a guide around the building, as if the building has nothing to hide, its stands proud of its scars and imperfections which adds to the experience. There are no private areas, no rooms just a ground floor and a mezzanine. It is one large unforgiving space which has been kept alive by unloved repairs here and there which are visible all throughout. Holding historical war objects within a building which created war ships, and was home to many craftsman and hardworking individuals only adds to the atmosphere, creating a stronger connection for the visitor. Not only the objects held within the building are connected to the war but the building itself had a huge involvement. However, not one of the objects overshadows the building itself, this is by far the star of the show. Leaving this space untouched and what feels unfinished again draws visitors to the attention of the surroundings.
In all, 57 submarines were built at the Dockyard between 1908 and 1960.
A photogenic space filled with history. A gigantic listed building which is of both special architectural and historical interest. Its considered to be of national importance and subsequently worth protecting. This building must be difficult to keep alive due to its sheer size, age and unusual structure. Restoration can be seen throughout the entire building. I wonder how long this building will stand for and how long the original timber used will last?
Laura Woodgate 