REPOSITORy wOODS, wOOlwICH, gREATER ... - English Heritage

The immediate objects of the instruction of this Institution are thedifferent modes of passing Rivers, Ravines, Ditches, Narrow Roads,Precipes, Morasses, and other such obstacles, by Field Artillery; withthe embarkation and disembarkation, the mounting and dismounting,both Light and Heavy Ordnance; shewing all the various expedientsby which the heaviest Guns and Mortars may be landed and moved,where Cranes, Gyns, or other regular mechanical means are not to beobtained. To this also is added the Construction and Laying of MilitaryBridges, Scaling Ladders, and in short everything that can occur in themost difficult service, and which does not fall within the regular Field orGarrison Practice of Artillery. (Congreve 1822, 1-2)From 1820 to 1859 the Repository was ‘used exactly as intended by the elder Congreve’(Skedd 2008, 20) and the Bayly map of 1867 shows in great detail the point to which thefacility had developed over this period (Figures 36A and B). In December 1838 the RoyalMilitary Repository was described as having:all the requisite for the instruction of the artillery in the practice oftheir formidable mode of warfare. Here are model rooms containingdrawings and models of implements of war, workshops in whichexperiments are made and new models constructed, and in the openair different kinds of fortification are erected by the students, and allthe details of the management of artillery are put in practice for thepurpose of instruction, near an artificial fortification constructed ofearth. ……. The ground near this spot is beautifully diversified andunequal in its surface, and interspersed with several pieces of water;this condition of the ground affords excellent practice to the men, indragging the guns up steep acclivities, or lowering them down rapiddescents, turning pontoon bridges to transport them over water, andimitating all the operations of actual war.(Saturday Magazine 1838)Contemporary training manuals demonstrate the continuing importance of WilliamCongreve the elder’s Repository exercises well into the 19th century, a fact underlinedby the lengthy and detailed lists of exercises demonstrated “at the various visits andinspections of the Masters General and Lieutenants General of the Ordnance’ throughthe 1820s, 30s and 40s (RAHT Collection MD93). These detailed lists describe not onlythe types of exercise being undertaken but also the locations that these exercises werebeing carried out within the Repository. Additionally it is worth noting that they alsodescribe not only the exercises undertaken on specific structures or ponds within theRepository but also in open areas in between these structures, such as the ‘Ground inrear of West Batteries’ (ibid). These exercises are wonderfully illustrated by the work ofthe pioneering photographer John Spiller (1833-1921), a chemist at the Arsenal (Skedd2008, 18). As an important addition to the training manuals, he was commissioned toproduce a series of photographs to illustrate the Repository exercises (Skedd 2008, 18;Crookes 1858, 184). A photograph album held in the collections of the Royal ArtilleryHistorical Trust (RAHT Collection AL933) is described as containing:‘Photographs illustrative of Instruction given to the Selected Non-© ENGLISH HERITAGE1814 - 2009