The Creation of Rosyth Dockyard

Rosyth Dockyard – with the largest non-tidal basin in the UK

In 2018, NQHT created an exhibition commemorating the Surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in 1918. Part of this exhibition covered the defences of the Forth, and the fact that some of the caissons or lock gates for Rosyth Dockyard were manufactured in North Queensferry.

Since then we have uncovered more information about the creation of Rosyth Dockyard. A very useful discovery was an article published in the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in 1927, which covered the creation of the dockyard. The authors of this article were eminent civil engineers involved in the construction, and both lived in North Queensferry during the construction! Having read the article we finally understood how the caissons worked and lots more about this complex civil engineering project.

There have been links between Rosyth Dockyard and North Queensferry from its inception with many families still associated directly or indirectly with the workforce past and present. We welcome any feedback, photographs and anecdotes. Our email address is nqhtinfo@gmail.com

The following chapters are broadly in chronological order with some describing parallel or overlapping activities.

1 – Links with North Queensferry
2 – A Short History of Rosyth Dockyard
3 – 1900 The need for new naval bases
4 – 1903 Selecting a site
5 – 1906 Surveying the site
6 – 1909 Awarding the construction contracts
7 – 1910 The Submarine Basin
8 – 1910–1911 The North Wall of the Inner Basin and Graving (Dry) Docks
9 – 1912-1913 The Main Basin Sea Walls
10 – 1914 Construction progress at the outbreak of war
11 – 1914 Completing the Main Basin
12 – 1914-1916 The Entrance Lock
13 – 1916 The Entrance Pier / Coaling Station
14 – 1915 Completion of the Emergency Entrance
15 – 1915 Excavating the main basin
16 – 1916 Fitting the caissons to the entrances
17 – Caissons manufactured at North Queensferry
18 – Floating Caissons
19 – Secondary floating caisson for the Emergency Opening
20 – Land Reclamation, Excavation and Dredging
21 – The Oil Storage Tank Farm
22 – Post WW2 modifications
23 – Future developments – the Frigate Factory

There are also two appendices

Appendix 1 – Ordnance datum and Tide levels is included to explain water depths in the basin, locks and river.

Appendix 2 – Sliding Caisson flotation calculations is a more esoteric topic. It was discussed in the ICE article, and being an engineer, I felt it should be mentioned!

Boyd Williamson, April 2021.