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The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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ROYAL NAVAL CAMP, SAINT BUDEAUX
During the Great War the Admiralty built a Camp for naval personnel alongside the Great Western Railway line between Saint Budeaux Station and the Royal Albert Bridge.
The Royal Naval Camp at Saint Budeuax, just behind the It was still in situ in 1920, when a reporter from the "Western Evening Herald" visited and provided a detailed description for posterity. 'A good military road' provided access to the site and at the entrance gate there was a notice declaring "No Thoroughfare". Within the Camp, the roadway and area around each hut was lit by electric lamps fixed to the telegraph poles. The ground was uneven and covered with grass or stubble. There were ten huts, each 100 feet in length and 20 feet wide, all constructed of concrete, with sloping, corrugated iron roofs lined with asbestos. The floors were also of concrete. At the top of the hill was a red-bricked electricity power station specifically for the Camp. At the end of each hut was a water tap, mainly for use in case of fire. Some of the huts were divided into two but others were not. Each hut had nine windows and and was heated by a small stove at one end. The naval men had, apparently, all slept under canvas and only used these huts as mess rooms. Two of the buildings, standing parallel to each other, had been used as quarters for the commissioned officers and the warrant officers. Between them was a less substantially-built kitchen building. The huts were divided by concrete walls into a number of small rooms opening on to a central corridor. Each hut had a bathroom and washing area, both with hot and cold water, and a lavatory. The hot water actually came from the kitchen, 'where there is an ingenious stove which, by the manipulation of a lever, can be used either for cooking purposes or for providing a hot water supply'. The huts were thus of a more permanent and satisfactory nature than the wooden ones at the nearby Ernesettle Camp built by the War Department. A
petty officer was acting as caretaker of the empty Camp but it was hoped
that the Admiralty would soon begin to rent them out in a similar manner to
the army huts at Ernesettle Camp. Sources:
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