Case Store To W Side Of Camber, Museum Buildings

1137/2/132 PRIDDY'S HARD 19-JAN-90 HARDWAY Case Store to W side of Camber, Museum Buildings (Formerly listed as: PRIDDY'S HARD HARDWAY STORE, ON WEST SIDE OF CAMBER)

GV II Store for empty packing cases. c1879. Brick, slate roof on collar rafter roof. Small hipped unit set end-on to the Camber (qv), with pair of plank doors to concrete lintel at one end, and small-pane casements each long side. INTERIOR: compound roof, with iron tie bars to the rafters.

HISTORICAL NOTE: Probably built as part of the new shell filling system. The case stores at Priddy's Hard are all grouped around the magazine complex that developed from the late 18th century around its small harbour. They all date from the second half of the 19th century and are associated with the introduction into naval service of shells, a type of ordnance which revolutionised both the operations of the key naval depots and the development of naval ships and fortifications. Each shell was individually packed into its own wooden box before being taken aboard ship.

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.