Kinsale Dockyard

Kinsale Dockyard was a British Royal Navy base located at Kinsale, Ireland from c. 1647 to 1812.

History

By the early 17th century, Kinsale Harbour was already 'a place of great resort for his Majesty's ships of war' During the Battle of Kinsale, ships were often careened on the isthmus of the Castlepark peninsula, where (in an area still known as 'The Dock') facilities were provided for ship repair and maintenance. Later in the century, these facilities migrated across the river to the Custom House Quay at Kinsale itself. By the mid-17th century, a small dockyard had been established, with staff including locally-known shipwrights from Chudleigh family (John Chudleigh, first appointed as assistant to the Master Shipwright in 1647, later served as Master Shipwright at the yard and was succeeded by his son, Thomas Chudeleigh). In 1650, victualling facilities were established alongside the dockyard; these played a key role in the provisioning of westbound vessels setting off from England and Ireland to the colonies. In 1683 the newly constituted Victualling Board appointed an Agent Victualler to Kinsale to oversee these operations. At the same time, work was underway to improve fortifications around the harbour: the 'New Fort' (Charles Fort) was opened in 1682, to complement the 'Old Fort' (James's Fort).

The dockyard initially served as one of the bases for the Royal Navy's Irish Squadron. Then, in 1694, the English Parliament established Kinsale as the headquarters for co-ordinating convoy operations in the Western Approaches (for protecting merchant shipping from attacks by privateers). In connection, it became home base for up to forty-three cruizers, deployed there to serve as escort ships (though some were based in Bristol, which had a similar co-ordinating role in relation to the Welsh coast).