TQ 76 NE CHATHAM EAST ROAD (East side) Chatham Dockyard 762-1/8/57 Timber seasoning store, North GV II* Timber seasoning store. Designed 1771. Weather-boarded timber-frame on brick plinth with corrugated asbestos roof. Rectangular plan 45 feet long. EXTERIOR: single storey; 16-gable roof. Regular range has double doors in the gables, louvred above, and louvred sides with 5 metal-framed windows. INTERIOR: 3 bays deep with bracketed posts, with racks for stacking sawn timber, and timber trusses. HISTORY: seasoning sheds were introduced by order of the Earl of Sandwich because of the problem of using green timber in the Navy's ships, which were incurring massive expenditure on maintenance. They were designed by the Navy Board, and are a notable example of an early modular design, built in large numbers in all the naval yards. Obsolete by 1860, the two at Chatham are the last to survive (see Timber seasoning store, South (qv)). (Sources: Coad J: Historic Architecture of Chatham Dockyard 1700-1850: London: 1982: 155 ; Coad J: The Royal Dockyards 1690-1850: Aldershot: 1989: 127-129). Listing NGR: TQ7611569363