Past Watch Site

Since Roman times, the strategic location of Sheerness—on the western tip of the Isle of Sheppey, where the Thames and Medway Rivers converge and spill into the North Sea—has enabled it to serve as a point of defense against naval attacks as well as a port for the largest of vessels. In the 17th century, Sheerness was attacked and invaded in what became known as the Dutch Raid, and the Isle of Sheppey is immortalized as the only part of the country that has ever been controlled by a foreign power.

Sheerness Dockyard, as it exists today, was meticulously designed and constructed in a single phase, completed in 1815. Its late-18th-century Georgian-style docks, boathouse, and complementary structures were conceived as an entire landscape, and planned with the aid of a 1,600-square-foot (150-square-meter) scale model that survives to this day.

The naval dockyard was closed in 1962, and the site was purchased and transformed into a commercial port, which it remains today. As a bonded and secure site, it is not accessible to the public, and the landscape and architectural ensemble have suffered from lack of stewardship and use. Multiple ownership issues compound preservation and accessibility challenges, and this singular heritage will be lost without some form of collective action.