Royal Marines Turnchapel is a former Royal Marines military installation in South

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

located east of Plymouth, Devon, and north east of

Torpoint Torpoint ( kw, Penntorr) is a civil parish and town on the Rame Peninsula in southeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated opposite the city of Plymouth across the Hamoaze which is the tidal estuary of the River Tamar. Torpoint ha ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

The site was established as a shipyard in the 17th century and expanded rapidly under the ownership of

John Parker, 1st Earl of Morley John Parker, 1st Earl of Morley FRS (3 May 1772 – 14 March 1840), known as 2nd Baron Boringdon from 1788 to 1815, was a British peer and politician. Origins Morley was the only son of John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon, of Boringdon Hall, P ...

in the 1790s. The

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

acquired the site in 1903 and used it as a naval oil fuel depot until it was badly damaged by aerial bombing in 1940 during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The slipway was used as an embarkation point by troops of the US 29th Division boarding LSTs for the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

in June 1944. The site became a Royal Marines base in 1993 and went on to become the home of

539 Assault Squadron RM 539 Raiding Squadron (539 RS) is 3 Commando Brigade's integral operational amphibious movement capability, delivering them on to land from water and patrolling waterways. It forms part of 47 Commando (Raiding Group) Royal Marines. The Squadron ar ...

and its feeder unit, 10 Landing Craft Training Squadron. These units moved to RM Tamar in early 2013. The site was declared surplus to military requirements by the Ministry of Defence and bought by marine leisure business The Yacht Havens Group. The business took possession of the waterfront site on the 28 March 2014 after buying it for an undisclosed sum.

References

External links

Turnchapel Wharf
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turnchapel Royal Marines bases Royal Navy bases in England Military history of Devon Buildings and structures in Plymouth, Devon