Topic: HMS Pembroke,Royal Naval Barracks,Chatham.

[cliveh]

It looks like it is on the outside of the ditch on the Lower Lines where the old Admiralty House used to be. That looks like theGillingham end of the dockyard in the background.

Thanks bromptonboy! 

cliveh

[bromptonboy]

It looks like it is on the outside of the ditch on the Lower Lines where the old Admiralty House used to be. That looks like theGillingham end of the dockyard in the background.

[cliveh]

This postcard is from the 'Gale & Polden' series of the Barracks from the early 1900's. Does anyone please have any idea where the photo was taken?

cliveh

[grandarog]

Postcard from around 1908.

[cliveh]

Does anyone have any idea why 'Duncan' & 'Hawke' barrack blocks were demolished whilst all the others were preserved? Were there structural problems with them or were they just demolished to make way for the new buildings?

cliveh

[cliveh]

I had a very good walk around here yesterday. It was nice and quiet without the teeming hordes of students! I took over 100 photos but I won't bore you with them all! Just a few of the buildings that haven't featured so far on this thread:

Warrant Officers' Mess


The Canteen


The Offices


Stores


Commodore's House


Stables



cliveh

[cliveh]

A few photos from a recent visit:

The Drill Shed


The Swimming Pool Building


The Gymnasium


The Gunnery School



cliveh

[cliveh]

Hoping this is not off-topic, but may be of interest. During WW2 WRNS were billeted in the large houses in Watts Avenue, Rochester, on the left going from Maidstone Road. They occupied at least 2 of the houses, maybe more. Presumably they worked in the dockyard, barracks etc.

Thanks peterchall - I recently saw something on the internet mentioning that too.

Sorry I should've been more specific with my request - I'm trying to identify where a member of the WRNS Reserve who was re-called to Chatham to serve in a NATO excersise in the late 50's may have been accommodated? The time period involved would've been about 3-4 weeks.

cliveh

[peterchall]

Hoping this is not off-topic, but may be of interest. During WW2 WRNS were billeted in the large houses in Watts Avenue, Rochester, on the left going from Maidstone Road. They occupied at least 2 of the houses, maybe more. Presumably they worked in the dockyard, barracks etc.

[bromptonboy]

I think the Wrens were billeted in what was called East Camp. This was a hutted camp located in the vicinity of what is today the Kelly Drive area. The old Chatham News used to publish photos each year of the Wrens stirring the Christmas Pud mix.

[Lyn L]

Hubby was in HMS Pembroke at times during the 60s, so I imagine that's what he's recalling. He finished his time on Small Craft Refitting Group.

[cliveh]

Thanks Leofwine & Lyn L

Would the Medway Road Barracks still have been in use by the WRNS in the late 1950's or would they have moved into Pembroke by then?

cliveh

[Leofwine]

The WRENS Barracks were just inside the gates at Medway Road. A few concrete huts erected during WW2, with a two storey air-raid shelter close by. If you go into the Lower Lines Park (aka Admiral's Gardens) from the Medway Road gate they would have been on the grassy bank in front of you. (There is an interpretation board on the path there with some pictures and details if you visit).

[Lyn L]

Spoke to hubby, he said the Wrens were kept completely separate from men , he's not sure now but thinks it could have been Blake or Collingwood block , but thinks it was next to the Wardroom.
If a Wren should come back on her own, she was always escorted back to the block. It's been a good few years now he left the RN in 1969.

[cliveh]

Was there accomodation blocks for WRENS at Pembroke? Would they have used the same Mess facilities as the men? Particularly interested in the post-WWII period

Thanks in anticipation

cliveh