The Bell Mast - Chatham, Kent, ME4 4LL.
Posted by: 
MeerRescue
N 51° 23.953 E 000° 31.880
31U E 328276 N 5697113
The historic 'Bell Mast' at the former Chatham Dockyard, Kent, ME4 4LL.
Waymark Code: WMEK1H
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/07/2012
Views: 6
The Bell Mast at Chatham
Dockyard started out as a foremast for HMS Undaunted, a wooden screw warship.
Launched in 1861, her 3 wooden masts were replaced in 1872 at Chatham Dockyard
by new, wrought iron masts, made up of riveted metal plates. This, the foremast
was 109ft tall.
Ship building techniques soon
outdated ships such as HMS Undaunted, and in 1882 she was decommissioned and
sold to a ship breakers yard. The wrought iron foremast re-appeared at Chatham
Dockyard in 1898 when it was erected close to the former Pembroke Gate at the
Dockyard with a metal cupola and bell fixed to the top of the mast and an
octagonal canopy at the base. It was used until 1940 as a 'muster' bell,
summoning the Dockyard workforce for their shifts. Two shifts were run at the
Dockyard, and any worker more than 15 minutes late were docked anything from
1/16th to a 1/2 days pay.
The bell mast is a listed
scheduled monument and designated a Grade II listed structure. In 1984 Chatham
Dockyard closed and was sold off for redevelopment. The Bell Mast was taken down
from it's original site in 1992 due to the construction of the Medway Tunnel
route, and the mast was stored in the old Dockyard boiler room. The South East
Development Agency (SEEDA) who had overall control of the Dockyard
redevelopment, undertook a complete refurbishment of the Bell mast between 2000
and 2001 before erecting it here in a purpose built public open space along
Leviathan Way, opposite the Dockyard Outlet shopping centre and Chatham
Maritime. A row of panels depicting the mast's 'time line' feature around the
site, together with information panels on HMS Undaunted.