The documents, from Admiralty records, consist of fifty-one plans, mostly from the eighteenth century. Five plans form a series showing the whole yard throughout most of the century, 1714, 1725, 1735, 1764, 1773: supplementing these are ten plans showing part of the yard, two of 1748, one each of 1749, 1772 and six undated. Three plans, 1742, 1725 and undated, are of the Garrison which formed part of the yard; two other undated plans show the parade in the Garrison. Eleven show buildings proposed for the accommodation of officers and workmen, 1707, four 1734, 1736, 1738, four undated. Eight plans are of various other buildings proposed for the yard: these include one for a boathouse, 1726; one for a Smith's shop, 1735; two for stables, 1735; one for a rigging house, sail and mould lofts, 1751; an undated plan and elevation for a joiner's loft with sawpits beneath; the same for a Call House and another similar for a Bake and Brewhouse. The chapel with the gateway beneath is shown in two early nineteenth-century plans while the docks are shown in a series of five plans, 1745, 1752, 1811, and two undated. An extension to the yard, proposed by Sir Thomas Slade, Surveyor of the Navy, is shown in four plans, ca.1770. This proposed extension bears a strong resemblance to the yard as reconstructed in the nineteenth century and shown in an engraving, 1878. There is no known body of records for this yard, although there are individual volumes elsewhere in the collections.

Administrative / biographical background
The dockyard at Sheerness at the mouth of the river Medway was founded in 1665. Initially it was used mostly for storing and refitting ships, but in 1720 a second dry dock was built. Mainly fourth and fifth rates were built at the yard, but new construction was usually confined to periods of peace. Between 1815 and 1826 the yard was completely rebuilt and in 1854 a steam yard was established there. The yard was closed in 1957. See J. Fellowes, 'Shipbuilding at Sheerness: The Period 1750-1802', The Mariner's Mirror, 60, 1974, 73-83.