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Monument details

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1718 to 1722

Summary from record TQ 76 NE 90 :

Main Gate and gatehouses, 1718

Summary from record TQ 76 NE 117 :

Dockyard perimeter wall (remains) built 1718-20

Monument Types

• GATE (GATE, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• GATE LODGE (GATE LODGE, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• BOUNDARY WALL (BOUNDARY WALL, Post Medieval to Modern - 1718 AD to 2050 AD (between))
• SITE (Post Medieval - 1718 AD to 1722 AD)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
TQ 7568 NE CHATHAM MAIN GATE ROAD
Chatham Dockyard
762-1/1/71
Main Gate and attached
Dockyard perimeter wall to
south west
24.5.71
GV I
Gatehouse and dockyard walt. 1718-22. Brick with 4 rear corner stacks and a tall exterior stack to the rear, and a slate hipped roof. PLAN: single-depth square towers connected by bridge with W extension, with W single-depth house.
EXTERIOR: each tower 3 storey; 1-bay range. Towers have clasping pilasters to a moulded brick cornice and corner turrets, floors with paired strings and 2 blind oculi each with small pairs of recessed panels above.
Between the towers is a depressed 3-centre archway set back with key and imposts, beneath a large Royal Coat of Arms of George III in Coade stone, signed Coade and Sealy and dated 1812, which replaced the original when that was moved to the N side, with a Lombard frieze and parapet above. Rear has two 6/6-pane sashes with cambered heads to each floor and above the arch, with a round-arched ground-floor window each side. A smaller Coade stone cartouche between the middle windows. Double doors of 6 fielded panels each to front and rear, with gate-keepers' lodge on the S side.
To the W a 2-storey house recessed back from the N side, parapeted with 2-window N end, 2:5-window W side, the rear 2-window section a single storey; the longer section rendered with a small porch between the two, with segmental brick arches to 6/6-pane sashes. To the rear against the perimeter wall is a tall exterior stack.
INTERIOR: not inspected but reported to contain stairs in each tower and accommodation on the upper floors.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: tall dockyard wall, built 1718, of coped brick, which extends approx 350m terminating against the quay to enclose the Dockyard to the S. A smaller wall extends to the S to connect with The Cottage (qv).
HISTORY: built in the Baroque style associated with the early C18 Board of Ordnance at the .Woolwich Arsenal, Berwick-on- Tweed (probably by Hawksmoor), and Devonport, for example.
The gatehouse was originally occupied by the Yard porter and boatswain. Construction of the wall and four towers, of which two, North Tower House and South Tower House (qqv) survive, was authorised 1716; to bound land on the hill to the E which the navy acquired, and on which the Officer's Terrace was built. The Ropeyard was enclosed 1718. The wall to the N and two Tower Houses are included in the list as separate items, (qqv College Road).
(Sources: Coad J: Historic Architecture of Chatham Dockyard 1700-1850: London: 1982: 141 ; Coad J: The Royal Dockyards 1690-1850: Aldershot: 1989: 81-83 ; The Buildings of England: Newman J: West Kent and the Weald: London: 1976: 204).
Listing NGR: TQ7588168888

Description from record TQ 76 NE 90 :
(TQ 7588 6888) SAM No. 206 [Main Gate: Scheduled]. (1) The Main Gate and the East and West towers. Listed Grade II. Built 1720 and attributed to Vanbrugh. High carriage archway with square towers on each side which are houses occupied by officers of the yard. Red brick. Large royal cartouches above the gate arch on inner and outer sides, that on the inner side bearing the date 1720. (2) Permission for the construction of the main gate was sought in 1711. The gate was built 1718 at a cost of #400. Though the design has been compared with the work of Vanbrugh, there is no direct evidence of his involvement. The design may have been prepared by the master shipwright of the yard. (3)

Description from record TQ 76 NE 117 :
(TQ 7570 6865 - TQ 7594 6897) SAM No. 240 [the Dockyard Wall: scheduled]. (1) The first perimeter wall around the dockyard was built in 1688. This early wall, 12 ft high and built in brick, excluded the ropeyard area at the south of the dockyard complex. The extant wall, incorporating the Main Gate and wall turrets [See Associated Monuments] was constructed in 1718-22, including the ropeyard in the walled area. The North extension of the wall has been lost through expansion of the dockyard area. (2)

Coad, J., 1982, Historic Architecture of Chatham Dockyard 1700-1850 (Article in serial). SWX7760.

<1> English Heritage 1:1250 SAM location maplet (OS Card Reference). SKE41612.

<2> DOE (HHR) Borough of Chatham May 1971 (OS Card Reference). SKE39905.

<2> Jonathan G Coad, 1989, The royal dockyards 1690-1850: architecture and engineering works of the sailing navy. No.1, Page Nos. 83 (Bibliographic reference). SKE6362.

<3> Jonathan G Coad, 1989, The royal dockyards 1690-1850: architecture and engineering works of the sailing navy. No.1, Page Nos. 82-3, Plate Nos. 66-7 (Bibliographic reference). SKE6362.

Sources and further reading

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