Linking Land and Navy: archaeological investigations at the site of the Woolwich Royal Dockyard, south‐eastern England

Abstract

This paper outlines the archaeological evidence found at the demolished Royal Naval Dockyard at Woolwich for the development and construction of dockyard structures of the 18th to early‐19th centuries. This is set within the framework provided by historic, documentary, map and historic‐model evidence. The results of earlier excavations at the same facility are also reviewed. The themes covered include; the interplay of ‘carpentry’ versus ‘shipwrightry’ in dockyard construction, aspects of naval timber‐supply and landscape, the recycling of ships' timbers, dockyard craft specialisation and changing relative sea‐levels.

© 2011 Pre‐Construct Archaeology Limited

Key words:

• carpentry
• dockyard
• slip
• Woolwich

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to the developers, Comber Homes who provided funding and on‐site assistance for the 2004 investigations, and to Pre‐Construct Archaeology's site staff for much of the initial recording work. Many thanks to Dan Atkinson for his comments on this paper, which were particularly helpful. We are grateful to Mark Roughly for his work on the CAD illustrations and to the late Michael Miles for the finds and timber drawings.