Frindsbury TQ744697 is a parish on the River Medway, on the opposite bank to Chatham Dockyard in Kent, England. It was a centre of ship building before 1820, building at least six 74 gun third rate ships of the line and many smaller vessels. From 1820, until recent times, the ship yards built over 100 Thames sailing barges. Shipbuilding stopped but in 2006, one yard was still active in ship repair.
Ships
Quarry House Yard Edward Greaves and Nicholson set up at the Quarry House yard in c.1745. The full list of ships built is unknown but two of the later ones were:Merrily to Frendsbury-A History of the Parish of Frindsbury. Derek Barnard. Private Pub. City of Rochester Society. post 1994. 1785 —32 gun frigate was part of a squadron off the coast of Genoa in 1794 under the command of Captain Horatio Nelson. 1786 —74 gun designed by Sir Thomas Slade. Laid down in 1783, she was launched on 6 October 1786 and commissioned on 19 July 1790. Nicknamed the "Billy Ruffian". She destroyed the French flagship L'Orient at the Battle of the Nile. Fought at Trafalgar. On 15 July 1815 she received the surrender of Napoleon Bonaparte.David Cordingly: Billy Ruffian: the Bellepheron and the Downfall of Napoleon, Bloomsbury, 2003. She was renamed Captivity and served as a prison hulk off Sheerness. She was sold to breakers at Plymouth for £4030 and broken up in 1834. The construction of the Bellerophon features in a poem by the American Imagist poet Amy Lowell.
Josiah and Thomas Brindley, leased the Quarry House yard. The first ship was launched from here in 1794. They expanded, built a new yard which became the entrance to the Thames and Medway Canal, then a third shipyard further down river. They built no more ships for the Navy after the Napoleonic War. However they did continue shipbuilding. In 1821 they built the McQueen East India Man and in 1825 the British Steam and Navigation Company contracted them to build a steamship. When the Brindleys were declared bankrupt in 1826 they lost their shipyards and all their other businesses. It had been thought that Josiah and Thomas Brindley were nephews of Lord Nelson but the Nelson family has said there is no relationship.
1794 —16 gun 1794 —12 gun 1794 —12 gun 1803 —36 gun – commissioned in September 1803, and wrecked 10 December 1803. 1804 —12 gun 1804 —12 gun 1805 —38 gun 1806 —38 gun – Launched 5 May 1806, HMS Shannon, commanded by Captain Philip Broke, received the surrender of the USS Chesapeake in Boston Bay on 1 June 1813, after a fight of 15 minutes.A History of Strood Rural District, Brian Matthews M.A. 1971. Published Strood Rural District Council. 1807 —74 gun 1808 —10 gun 1809 —18 gun 1809 —18 gun 1810 —74 gun 1811 —74 gun 1811 transport 1813 —36 gun 1813 —36 gun 1813 —20 gun 1814 —20 gun 1814 —26 gun 1814 —26 gun
Morning Chronicle 25 October 1821 Morning Chronicle 21 June 1825 Bankruptcy Index
Wilson and Co 1794 —16 gun 1796 —18 gun 1797 —12 gun 1797 —12 gun
John Pelham 1807 —36 gun 1808 —10 gun 1808 —10 gun 1809 —18 gun 1809 —18 gun 1812 —20 gun 1812 —58 gun
John King of Upnor 1801 —10 gun 1801 —10 gun 1801 —10 gun 1801 —10 gun 1801 —10 gun 1809 —18 gun 1809 —18 gun 1809 —74 gun third rate ship of the line. 1810 —10 gun 1810 —12 gun 1810 —Cutter 1810 - merchant ship that twice transported convicts to Van Diemen's Land 1812 —18 gun 1812 —18 gun 1812 —74 gun 1813 —36 gun 1814 —20 gun
Barge Building
Frindsbury was an important centre for building of Thames sailing barges, using the land vacated by the shipbuilders. Barges were needed for many reasons; on the Medway it was for cement, brick and lime.Frank Wilmot Archive http://www.thamesbarge.org.uk/barges/Willmott/FWFrindsbury.html
Curel's In c. 1820 the lease of Quarry Yard, (Curel's Lower Yard), passed to John Curel. George H. Curel took over the business around 1870. He expanded the yard in 1887 leasing the yard by Strood Basin (Curel's Upper Yard).
Other families ran yards in Frindsbury, often they had other yards in Rochester.
Little William Burgess Little James Little Gill Gill Family, George Gill, of Cheetham Gill and Company. Canal shipyard.
London and Rochester Barge Co LRTC- Crescent Shipping- Canal Road, this yard was still operating in 2006, being used for ship repair.
List of Barges Here are some Frindsbury-built barges grouped by their owners. From 1870 to 1990 the Register of Shipping shows just over 100 Frindsbury Built Barges.
Phoenix Portland Cement Company, Frindsbury. Hawk—43 ton Cerf—58 ton Phoenix—51 ton
William Tingey Robert Bladen—33 ton Eliza—41 ton
Formby Cement Company, Whitewall Creek, Frindsbury Sara—39 ton Pink—43 ton Queen—43 ton Neptune—40 ton Whitewall—37 ton Vauxhall—40 ton Eclipse—39 ton Margaret Louise—45 ton Ella Vicars—43 ton
Burham Brick, Lime and Cement Company James—42 ton John—40 ton Ann—40 ton Varnes—41 ton The Gun—44 ton William—41 ton
Peter Bros Ltd. Cement Works Burham John—38 ton William—39 ton Overcomer—44 ton Monkwood—46 ton Ninety Nine—57 ton
Trenchmann Weekes Company Halling John Tinworth—43 ton William and Sarah—41 ton George—45 ton Ambrose—40 ton Bella—35 ton Edward and William—40 ton Stratford—42 ton
West Kent Portland Cement Company (Margretts) Stanley Margretts—44 ton Cecil Margretts—46 ton Harold Margretts—45 ton
Imperial Portland Cement Company Gundulph—44 ton
John Blazey White, Gillingham Sarah—38 ton Flower of Kent—44 ton
Queenborough Cement Company Trent—42 ton
Solomon Brice and Sons, Rainham and Hoo Ada Mary—41 ton Alumina—60 ton Mosquito—40 ton William Bennet—42 ton
Eastwoods (Medway brickmakers) 1845 George and Eliza 1852 Frederick and Mary Ann 1857 Ann and Frances 1862 Arthur and Eliza 1872 Onward 1876 Atlanta 1879 Hawk 1881 Banff 1884 Plover 1886 Snipe
References
External links 18th Century Naval Database Frindsbury Extra Parish Council Arethusa Venture Centre Medway Yacht Club Upnor Castle Upnor Residents Society Medway City Council Kent Association of Parish Councils