PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
|
|
BULL POINT The Royal Naval Ordnance Depot at Bull Point, St Budeaux, had its origins in the combining of two older powder magazines. Some 15 acres of land was purchased by the Government in 1805 from Mr Edward Trelawney, the Dean of Exeter, and Mr F Corham of Kinterbury House, St Budeaux. Upon this land was built the Kinterbury Powder Works. Nearer to the Royal Dockyard was the Keyham Powder Magazine, which had been built around 1784. Keyham was, of course, out in the country in those days and it was deemed a safe place to store gunpowder. But the need for gunpowder and shot was outgrowing the facilities and by 1815 five old hulks had been fitted out for storage purposes and moored in the Hamoaze. When the Government decided to construct a steam yard at Devonport it was found that the Keyham Powder Magazine stood in the way of expansion northwards and had to be moved. One of the possible alternative sites was the old war prison at Millbay but, unsurprisingly, both Plymouth and Stonehouse did not want explosives that close to their communities. So another area at Bull Point was purchased by the Government from Mr Thomas Elliot on November 8th 1845 and some additional land was bought from Charles Trelawney on July 8th 1846. The greater part of this land was transferred to the Ordnance Department in exchange for the Keyham Magazine. On December 19th 1854 the Royal Engineer's Office in Devonport issued a notice to builders and others inviting sealed tenders for the provision of services at the new barracks at Bull Point, in the parish of St Budeaux. The services were:
Tenders had to be at the Ordnance Office, Pall Mall, London, on or before January 27th 1855. After the buildings had been completed work started on a basin and sea works. When on October 1st 1891 the Naval Ordnance Department was formed, the eastern half of Bull Point became Naval. This included some cottages (Royal Laboratory Cottages) and a church/infant school with a clock tower. The western half remained in the hands of the War Department. Bull Point Jetty was constrcuetd in 1898. By 1913 the Admiralty held 69 acres and the War Department 57 acres. The depot gained its own rail connection on June 2nd 1916 when the siding from the Great Western Railway at St Budeaux Junction was opened. It became a Royal Navy Armament Depot before 1939 and the War Department gave up their part of the site in 1941 following the heavy air raids on Plymouth during the Blitz. The worst of these raids occurred on the night of April 28th/29th 1941, when six laboratories, a small arms ammunition store and many other buildings were damaged. The main office building received a direct hit from an high explosive bomb, resulting in the deaths of 46-years-old Mr Alexander McMillan McHutchon, an Armament Supply Officer who came from Argyllshire in Scotland, and 42-years-old Mr Joseph Wilson, a Messenger who lived at Somerset Place, Devonport, who were both on fire watching duty. Four barges moored in the river were also destroyed by incendiaries and the "SS Moncousu" laden with French ammunition was sunk at her mooring. The Depot recovered from this damage and took its active part in the preparations for D-Day. Bull Point Armament Depot has now been replaced by the Royal Naval Armament Depot at Ernesettle.
|
