Covered Slip (S 180)
COVERED SLIP (S 180), 1, SOUTH YARD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1388431
- Date first listed:
- 13-Aug-1999
- List Entry Name:
- Covered Slip (S 180)
- Statutory Address:
- COVERED SLIP (S 180), 1, SOUTH YARD
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1388431
- Date first listed:
- 13-Aug-1999
- List Entry Name:
- Covered Slip (S 180)
- Statutory Address 1:
- COVERED SLIP (S 180), 1, SOUTH YARD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- COVERED SLIP (S 180), 1, SOUTH YARD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- City of Plymouth (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SX4515953981
Details
SX 4554 SW PLYMOUTH SOUTH YARD, Devonport Dockyard
740-1/98/215 No.1 Covered Slip (5 180)
GV II*
Slip and slip cover. 1770s slip, cover 1814 designed by Sir Robert Seppings. Timber frame with metal sheet mansard roof, and limestone and granite slip. Apsidal aisled plan. Open E gable formed by one of the frames, the S side open below the roof, the N side butts against the Dockyard retaining wall (qv). The slip has raking sides and curved end with two steps, with the entrance opening into the river.
INTERIOR: timber frame has composite stanchions to cantilevered principal rafters which extend out each side, with raking braces and braced horizontal collars, and 2 outer struts.
HISTORY: covers for slips were introduced into Naval dockyards to protect wooden ships during construction, and "between 1814 and 1821 most of the dry docks and all the slips (at Devonport) had graceful timber framed housings added" (Coad). Two survive here and the largest one is at Chatham (qv). They were when built the widest span roofs in Britain, and the widest in the world except for riding schools in Germany and Russia. As such they prefigured the iron slip covers of the 1840s, and subsequent railway sheds.
(Sources: The Newcommen Society: Sutherland RFM: Shipbuilding and the Long Span Roof: London: 1989: 7; Coad J: Historic Architecture of the Royal Navy: London: 1983: 71).
Listing NGR: SX4515953981
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 476442
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Coad, J, Historic Architecture of the Royal Navy, (1983), 71
Sutherland, R J M, Shipbuilding and the Long Span Roof, (1989)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 14:40:52.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.