Former Royal Dockyard Church And Attached Wall And Railings

This is a former dockyard church and community centre, now disused, dating from 1828. It was designed by George Ledwell Taylor, the architect for the Navy Board, with engineering input from Sir John Rennie Snr. The building was rebuilt with its former clock tower after a fire in 1884 and was later used as a squash court in the late 20th century. It is constructed of yellow stock brick with sandstone ashlar dressings, brick lateral stacks, and a slate roof. The design is Neo-classical.

The east front features a large central Venetian window with a panelled architrave, flanked by paired pilasters beneath lateral stacks and narrow outer bays with segmental-arched and taller round-arched windows. The north and south sides have seven bays each, with a first-floor cill band and doorways with double doors. The imposing west front has a full-height tetra style Ionic portico, with windows in the outer bays and a large central doorway flanked by smaller doorways with double doors each having six raised panels, architraves, pulvinated friezes, and cornices, all beneath round-arched upper windows. The 1828 clock tower is square, with banded rustication, a clock face in the lower stage, paired pilasters to the upper bellcote stage with round-arched louvred windows, a cornice, and iron railings. All windows were blocked at the time of inspection.

The interior, which was not inspected, was originally reported to have a gallery on three sides supported by square, panelled supports and fluted columns, leading to a roof with a segmental-arched section, and a west narthex. Most fittings were removed during conversion to a squash court.

The site includes a curved lawn to the front, surrounded by a dwarf retaining wall with granite coping, and remaining sections of cast-iron spear-headed railings, gate piers, and lamp brackets.

Historically, this church is the most impressive of the three surviving royal dockyard chapels and remains in its original setting with the officers’ Naval Terrace. Unlike other royal dockyards, Sheerness was entirely rebuilt at the same time. The church sits within a little-altered corner of Sir John Rennie’s model layout, which also includes the entrance and officers' accommodation, forming part of a unique planned early 19th century dockyard.