TQ 7568 NE CHATHAM COTTAGE ROAD (West side) Chatham Dockyard 762-1/1/48 Former Tarred Yarn House GV II* White yarn, tarring and black yarn houses, now one store. 1786-1791, gaps between the three filled in C19. Brick with corrugated sheet and lead hipped roof. PLAN: rectangular single-depth plan. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys; 4:2:4:8-window range. Originally three separate buildings, now connected and the gaps between filled in. Long range with thin brick cornice and coped parapet, rubbed brick flat arches: the N white yarn house has doubled in width, 8-window N range, with double half-glazed doors with a doorway left of centre; the tarring house has 2 long 8-light casement windows and a pair of 2-light casements, and a segmental-arched carriage entrance each side in the ground floor; the long windows and archway are part of the later infill. The black yarn house has 2-light mullion and transom casements. Between the tarring and black yarn houses is a mid C20 infill with 2 first-floor blind windows. INTERIOR: not inspected. HISTORY: part of the late C18 rebuilding of the Ropeyard. Yarn was drawn from the white yarn house into the tarring house. This was divided into a kettle house with the tar kettles, and a capstan house which had capstans drawing the yarn powered by a horse gin in the basement. From there the tarred yarn was fed to the black yarn house where it dried and was wound on to bobbins before being taken to the ropery for laying. Tar was stored in the basement of the ropery (qv) and taken to the tarring house through a vaulted tunnel. Although altered, this represents an important component of the finest ropeyard and one of the largest integrated groups of C18 manufacturing buildings in the country. Part of a largely complete Georgian dockyard. (Sources: Coad J: Historic Architecture of Chatham Dockyard 1700-1850: London: 1982: 163 ; Coad J: Historic Architecture of the Royal Navy: London: 1983: 71). Listing NGR: TQ7582368888