Empty Powder Case Store (Building 312), Museum Buildings, To Sw Of Camber

1137/0/10104 PRIDDY'S HARD 19-JAN-1990 Empty Powder Case Store (Building 312) , Museum Buildings, to SW of Camber (Formerly listed as: PRIDDY'S HARD Museum Building)

GV II Empty Powder Case store, now part of Museum. 1891. Brick in English bond, slate roof on steel trusses.

A free-standing half-hipped shed in 7 bays, lying N/S near the S side of the Rolling Way (gc). Brick piers expressed externally on W side, and with 3 casement windows; the short S end has a wide opening with concrete lintel, and the E side adjoins the shed for Empty Powder Cases and Barrels (qv). INTERIOR has steel trusses with angles for struts and bar as ties carry 4 purlins and rafters with boarding.

HISTORICAL NOTE: These stores are associated with the introduction of shells into naval service, each shell being individually packed into its own wooden box. Located immediately to the W of Building 418 (qv), it is one of a series of such rooms, comprising one of the core group of buildings on this uniquely important site. A probable rebuild of an earlier building on the same site. The rail system to 'C' Magazine (qv) passed through at the centre of the long sides.

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.