Description

740-1/0/10046 RNAD BULL POINT
17-APR-09 Building 43, RNAD Bull Point

GV II
Empty Barrel and Case Store. 1856-7. Squared, coursed limestone rubble, rough rubble on NW side, with corrugated sheet roof.

PLAN: rectangular plan.

EXTERIOR: 2 storeys; 2 gables wide, 9-window SE range. Gables have central segmental-arched doorways with boarded doors, the gables to the NW section have a tall round-arched upper window with glazing bars above the doorway. SE elevation has evenly-spaced windows, round-arched 9/9-panes horned sashes on the ground floor and 6/6-pane horned sashes with lintels above. The rubble NW side is window-less, the gables here with toothed stonework and the rubble side wall suggesting a further section was intended but not built.

INTERIOR: timber trusses.

HISTORY: Bull Point, located just to the north of the Royal Navy's new Steam Yard at Keyham, was the last great project of the Board of Ordnance, which was abolished in 1856. It provided storage for 40,000 barrels of powder in an integrated complex including a floating magazine where powder was unloaded and the 1805 St Budeaux laboratory where it was checked and processed, before being taken to the Bull Point magazines (SAM). In contrast to other yards, Bull Point was from the outset provided with a set of buildings planned and dedicated to the various functions for the processing as well as the storage of the new types of ordnance which had a revolutionary impact on the design of naval ships and fortifications. All the buildings - mostly in ashlar with rock-faced dressings and fronting an avenue to the S of the magazines - are stylistically coherent with the magazines themselves. They comprise both the finest ensemble in any of the Ordnance Yards, consistent with the high standards practised by the Ordnance Board in its designs for fortifications and barracks from the C17 and a remarkable example of integrated factory planning of the period.

Case stores are associated with the introduction of shells into naval service, each shell being individually packed into its own wooden box. For a full history of the site, see Building 13 (qv).

Reasons for Listing

This specialised type of building is an integral part of the finest ensemble in any of the Ordnance Yards, consistent with the high standards practised by the Ordnance Board in its designs for fortifications and barracks from the C17 and a remarkable example of integrated factory planning of the period.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26672431

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)