IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
DARTMOUTH, TQ6 0FD

The interior walls of the chapel are brick built in English Bond, alternate courses are long stretchers or short headers, "headers centred over the midpoint of the stretchers, and perpends in each alternate course aligned" (words from Wikipedia). The pillars and arches are limestone.

Hanging above the Chapel Flat outside the chapel are banners of Knights of the Bath. The banner (size 6 feet by 6 feet), crest and mantling of each GCB (Knight Grand Cross) hang above his stall in the chapel of the order in Westminster Abbey until his death when they are returned to his family. These banners of admirals have been given to the college by the families; the banners remain here until they disintegrate.

13-year old Princess Elizabeth was visiting the college, 18-year old Prince Philip of Greece was there training as a naval officer and was one of the group of trainees allocated to meet her. This was told to us on a guided tour of the college.

The corridor runs the length of the building from chapel to Senior Gun Room (dining hall) which are 220 yards apart. Walkers in the corridor obey maritime rules and keep to the right.

The college (then HMS Britannia) was bombed in September 1942, moved briefly to Bristol, then in February 1943 to Eaton Hall in Cheshire. This has particular significance for the photographer as his brother-in-law John Excell from New Zealand joined HMS Britannia at Eaton Hall as a special cadet, later being commissioned in the New Zealand Navy.

Looking across the Dart from Kingswear Footpath 30. Below the college are houses on Sandquay Road. The college was built between 1899-1905. "Wrennian in style, Palladian in layout ... In 1863 the Admiralty stationed HMS Britannia in the Dart as a training ship for naval cadets. In 1865 she was joined by HMS Hindustan. By 1875 it was decided to build a land-based college, but the land was not acquired until 1896. Webb began work on the terraces for the main college in 1898 but, when 2 cadets died of influenza on Britannia, the sanatorium was built first. Edward VII laid the foundation stone of the college in 1902. The Hindustan was towed down to Plymouth in 1905 but the Britannia stayed until 1916." http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=387216&mode=adv

The college dominates this part of Dartmouth sitting on a wooded hillside above the town. The houses are on Sandquay Road. View from the River Dart.

See http://figureheads.ukmcs.org.uk/?p=2666 on Royal Museums Greenwich websites for a detailed description. It was brought from The Royal Naval College, Osborne, located in the grounds of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, which served as the junior training establishment for the training of naval cadets of the Military Branch of the Royal Navy from 1903 to 1921. Cadets spent two years under study there before transferring for two years' further study at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.