Description

Loading/unloading basin to Priddy's Hard ordnance yard, with two cranes and railings. Laid out 1771-6, later alterations and additions. Walls in stone and concrete replacing original walling in timber; railings in cast-iron; cranes with timber arm to steel windlass mechanism and stone bases.

A basin with an irregular octagonal shape enclosed by walls on seven sides, with paving of large irregular stone slabs, the W side adjoining the end of the Rolling Way (qv Bldg 421) from the magazine, and abutted by Buildings 418, 429 and 431 (qqv). The retaining walls are principally in large Purbeck Stone block, but with various repairs, including concrete, and some timber posts. There is a flight of steps within the basin in the SE corner. On the dockside are two C19 cranes, on the SE and SW sides of The Camber, each set to a stone base, having a steel body with windlass, and timber arm. Railings protect the sea frontage on the E and S sides, including a section on the SE arm having fluted iron posts and circular cross-sectioned handrail.

HISTORICAL NOTE: The Camber basin had to be dug and walled at the outset of the establishment of the yard, to enable shipping to service the whole: although patched over the years, the essential structure and layout remain, and the historical importance of the whole is enhanced by the survival of the cranes.

The magazines and related structures at Priddy's Hard date from the late 18th century. The site's expansion from the mid 19th century was closely related to the development of land and sea artillery and the navy's transition from the age of sail, powder and solid shot to the Dreadnought class of the early 1900s. Priddy's Hard retains the best-preserved range of structures that relate to this remarkable history of continual enlargement and adaptation, one that encompasses that of Britain's dominance as a sea power on a global scale. For further historical details on this site, see the description for 'A' Magazine.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26528111

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

• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)