SOUTH SAW MILLS (S 128, 148, 149, 150)

A disused saw mill, built between 1856 and 1859, is located within Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. It was likely designed by Col G T Greene, a Royal Engineers officer and Director of the Admiralty Works Department, with sawing machinery provided by James Horn and a steam engine by Easton and Amos.

The mill is constructed of limestone ashlar with a corrugated sheet roof, and features a fireproof iron internal frame. The rectangular plan comprises a 7x5-bay saw mill range, and a former engine and boiler house with a chimney (now demolished) attached to its west end. The building is two storeys high, with an attic and basement, and has an 8-window facade to the east and west, a 1:6-window facade to the north, and a 2:3:2-window facade to the south. The east and west elevations feature wide clasping pilasters to a cornise and coped parapet, and a plat band. The two-window north ends project forward, with a double door and radial fanlight in the second bay and a blocked ground-floor window in the first bay. The south saw mill range has a ground-floor with large I-section cast-iron stanchions and sliding metal doors, with continuous upper glazing comprising three 12-pane lights to each bay. A sloping apron of granite setts extends down from the doors. The north engine and boiler house elevation echoes the detailing of the east elevation. The south elevation includes arched recesses housing ground-floor 6/6-pane sashes and tilting first-floor casements. Three gables, the central one taller, are separated by buttresses.

The interior features a massive, fireproof cast-iron frame with hollow round columns supporting a jack-arch floor, which springs from cast-iron beams with parabolic bottom flanges. The roof is supported by iron trusses with hollow section iron valley beams. An open-well stone stair is located in the northeast corner.

The saw mill's history is closely linked to a contemporary saw mill and smithery at Sheerness. Timber was fed in from the east, through four reciprocating frame saws and three circular saws arranged along the north-south axis of the mill. The engine house originally contained a pair of 50hp Easton and Amos rotative beam engines, with spur gearing to the drive shaft, that likely provided a forced draft to the adjoining South Smithery. The robust iron frame was designed to withstand significant vibration. The building exemplifies an early approach to fireproof construction within the dockyards, representing a significant design by Col Greene, and is of particular interest alongside the South Smithery.