Shed Number 78, Sheerness Dockyard (also known as Boat Store Number 78 or simply Sheerness Boat Store) is a disused industrial building at

Sheerness Dockyard Sheerness Dockyard also known as the Sheerness Station was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the Sheerness peninsula, at the mouth of the River Medway in Kent. It was opened in the 1660s and closed in 1960. Location In the Age of Sail, the Roy ...

, on the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is deriv ...

in north

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. The building was constructed at the

Royal Navy Dockyard Royal Navy Dockyards (more usually termed Royal Dockyards) were state-owned harbour facilities where ships of the Royal Navy were built, based, repaired and refitted. Until the mid-19th century the Royal Dockyards were the largest industrial c ...

Sheerness Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby tow ...

in 1856–60, as a store for small boats and a warehouse. It became a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

in 1962, upgraded to Grade I in 1999, but it has been on the

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for actio ...

for many years.

History

The building was constructed for 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, Tra ...

Works Department by Colonel Godfrey Thomas Green CB of the Royal Engineers (1807-1886) (formerly from the

Bengal Sappers and Miners Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

, and later Director of Admiralty Works), and William Scamp (1801-1872), with ironwork cast by

Henry Grissell Henry Grissell (4 July 1817 – 31 January 1883), sometimes known as "Iron Henry", was an English foundry-man who was responsible for the ironwork in a number of prestigious buildings in England, Russia, Austria, and Egypt. Early life and educat ...

's Regent's Canal Ironworks. The design was based on

slip Slip or SLIP may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Slip (fish), also known as Black Sole * Slip (horticulture), a small cutting of a plant as a specimen or for grafting * Muscle slip, a branching of a muscle, in anatomy Computing and ...

covers at naval dockyards built during the 1830s and 1840s, for example the Grade I listed covered slips at

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th centur ...

, but, unlike those buildings, it relies on the rigidity of the joints in its

iron frame The term iron frame describes the structural use of either cast iron or wrought iron in the columns and Beam (structure), beams of a building. While popular in the 19th century, the iron frame was displaced by the steel frame in the early 20th centu ...

to make the structure stable. ChathamHDYCoveredS0005

It is an unusually large example of a boat store, built using an innovative structural system, with an all-metal frame incorporating metal portal bracing. After

The Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around ...

(constructed 1851; destroyed 1936) and the first

South Kensington Museum South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

(constructed 1857; removed and reused at Bethnal Green in 1874) the building is said to be the earliest surviving example of a multi-storey iron-frame building in the world. The boat house is recognised as the world's first multi-storey building with a rigid metal frame, providing the pattern for many modern industrial and commercial buildings. A similar system used for the first

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ri ...

s in Chicago, and is now widely used for steel-framed building. It became a

in 1962, and was promoted to Grade I in 1999. Its listing entry with

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

states that it is "of international significance in the development of modern architecture". As of 2015, it was in very bad condition, and was listed as one of the

Victorian Society The Victorian Society is a UK amenity society and membership organisation that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. It is a registered ...

's ten buildings most at risk in 2015. It remains unused, and has been on the Buildings at Risk Register for many years.

Description

The building was constructed from

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...

, with its walls and roof clad with

corrugated iron Corrugated galvanised iron or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America) and occasionally abbreviated CGI is a b ...

. It has four storeys, with 14 bays on the main (north) frontage and 9 bays on the side return. The bays and floors are divided into regular units by high cast iron columns which support long cast iron beams with an I or H cross-section and supporting brackets, creating a rigid

. Each unit on the north front has a full-width window with 5 casements (originally sashes), each with 3x2 panes, above a corrugated iron panel (replacing the original timber cladding, with brick infill added in 1946 on the ground floor). The west side has a gable end over the central 3 bays, above sliding doors on the ground, and hipped roofs on 3 three side bays. The south (rear) elevation is blind. Internally, the building is divided into three sections which run on an east to west axis, each with 3 bays across their width: a wide full-height unobstructed central aisle, with storage bays on four floors in the sections to the north and south. A frame of cast-iron H-section columns and I-section joists divides the side aisles into 7 bays along their length. An area on the third floor in the south east corner has an office area, divided by glazed panels. A timber winder stair leads up to an octagonal cupola above the roof.

References

Shed Number 78, The Boat Store, Building Number 78
National Heritage List for England, Historic England
The Boat Store, Sheerness Dockyard - Swale
Heritage at Risk Register, Historic England
Pier and boat store on top 10 at-risk buildings
BBC News, 16 September 2015
Sheerness Boat Store, Kent, on Top Ten Most Endangered Buildings list
The Victorian Society
Historic Sheerness Boat Store at risk of deteriorating, say experts
Kent Online, 24 March 2019
The Boat Store, Shed Number 78
Exploring Kent's Past
Boat store, Sheerness Naval Dockyard, Kent
RIBA {{coord, 51.4445, 0.7454, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Grade I listed buildings in Kent Sheerness Military history of Kent Warehouses in England