Dockyard Terrace, Sheerness, Kent

Entering the Heritage Quarter of Sheerness Royal Naval Dockyard and Bluetown conservation area feels like being let in on the secret of an exciting historical discovery. It’s as if the very bustle and activity of the commercial dockyard that surrounds the private four-acre plot has been vital in distracting the modern world from its existence.

In actual fact it was the Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust, an organisation so instrumental in the safeguarding of many of east London’s early Georgian Huguenot houses, among others, that acquired the collection of magnificent and substantial Grade II* listed houses in 2011, and began sensitively restoring them for new custodianship.

The houses were built between 1829-33 as homes for the principal naval officer class, including this particular house for the Senior Medical Officer. They were designed by the architect George Ledwell Taylor, as Surveyor of Buildings to the Naval Department, and the engineer Sir John Rennie, to a standard that reflected their target echelon. They consist of one stand-alone house and five within a grand terrace, each with views to the mouth of the Medway.

From the approach along the communal gardens, the terrace is a picture of Georgian symmetry, with lines of balanced fenestration across three above-ground storeys, and protruding roof-lit porches for each house.

Stone steps, beautifully gnarled by the footfall of centuries, lead up to the central hallway of the double-fronted plan. Double receptions lie either side, lit by pairs of six-over-six sash windows in their east-to-west orientation. Hand sanded pitch-pine floorboards run underfoot, intricate cornicing has been repaired and reinstated, and a most appropriate palette range gives each room its own identity, many informed by Patrick Baty of Papers and Paints.

The house reaches over 4,500 sq ft over four storeys. The current owner carried the torch of early restoration and the house became a labour of love for a fastidious and sensitive renovation over the course of a further year. Most of the rooms had fireplaces restored, some with original surrounds, some with later Victorian additions. In the ‘green’ room along the southern aspect, a large mahogany bar has been put in place around the former fireplace. It was reclaimed from The Lanesborough during a refurbishment and now serves as one of the many occasional meeting points for this incredibly social community.

The kitchen and dining room have been positioned on the lower ground floor, as would have been the original arrangement. The ceiling heights here are not quite of the grandeur of the upper levels, but impressive for a lower-ground floor nonetheless. With that, the stone-floored spaces across this level achieve a rustic intimacy and another wonderful social environment in both the kitchen and dining room; cool in summer and cocooning in winter.

The upper levels contain six bedrooms with a variety of possible arrangements. In typically Georgian style they all have excellent proportions, and two of the bedrooms have enormous en-suite bathrooms with burnished-brass tubs by William Holland. There is also a third bathroom on the first floor of a late-Victorian ‘outshut’ at the rear of the building. Original shutters are present throughout.

Unsurprisingly, the top floor provides some of the best views, particularly to the east. These are mainly across the two-hundred-and-twenty-foot garden, neighbouring gardens in which orchards have been planted and a swimming pool installed, and beyond the refurbished Dockyard Church to the River Medway. At the rear of the garden is a large hard standing, which would be a brilliant starting point to build a substantial garden studio, and a communal driveway for work access exists for even greater convenience.

Nearby

Over the last fifteen years and increasingly over the last decade, a wonderful community has risen alongside the renaissance of buildings within the Heritage Quarter and beyond. The exceptional Georgian architecture of the area, allure of the natural coastline, and proximity to London and Faversham have attracted discerning and invested inhabitants, some of whom use the houses as weekend and holiday retreats, but most as their primary residences.

Within the ‘quarter’ is the Dockyard Church which was the subject of a two-year refurbishment and modernisation within, undertaken by Sheerness Dockyard Preservation Trust. It is now a mixed-use building run by IslandWorks for community co-working and young enterprise. It also has an excellent cafe with great sandwiches.

The Isle of Sheppey itself has some lovely beaches at Shellness and Leysdown-on-Sea, across The Swale from Whitstable, and some well-regarded nature reserves. It’s an excellent vantage point for all that Kent has to offer, particularly the towns across the north. Faversham in particular has an amazing reputation for its food and antiques culture.

Transport

Sheerness-on-Sea Station is a five-minute walk from Dockyard Terrace, connecting with Sittingbourne for direct trains to London Victoria and London Kings Cross, with journey times of just under an hour and a half. The M2 & M20 motorways are nearby for easy routes into London or the southern Kent coast. Gatwick Airport is approximately an hour’s drive.