HM Victualling Yard, Deptford

HM Victualling Yard, Deptford was a Royal Navy Victualling Yard established alongside Deptford Royal Dockyard on the River Thames. There was victualling activity on the site for the best part of 300 years from the mid-17th century through to the early 1960s.

Initially known as the Red House, Deptford, the Victualling Yard was rebuilt in the late 18th century and became 'the largest food-processing operation in Britain, if not in Europe'. Deptford's proximity to the food markets of London made it especially convenient for victualling, and it served the requirements not only of its own neighbouring Dockyard, but also those of Woolwich, Sheerness and Chatham (as well as the Victualling Yard in Gibraltar for a time). After 1858 it was formally known as the Royal Victoria Victualling Yard.

In the 17th century the Navy Board's victualling operation was based on Tower Hill in a complex of offices, residences, storehouses and manufactories which had been established in the reign of Elizabeth I. In 1650, to supplement these arrangements, a slaughterhouse was acquired by the Board of Victualling of the Commonwealth Navy, across the river and downstream, at Deptford.

After the Restoration a private contractor, Sir Denis Gauden, was licensed as Surveyor of Marine Victuals. In 1665, with the Navy expanding rapidly, Gauden sought to ease pressure on the facilities at Tower Hill. He leased a property known as the Red House (a red brick storehouse which stood on a wharf adjacent to the Royal Dockyard). It first required rebuilding, having been damaged by fire in 1639; but in 1673 Gauden began to transfer a number of personnel and operations from Tower Hill to Deptford.

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