Portsmouth Block Mills

The Portsmouth Block Mills form part of the Portsmouth Dockyard at Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and were built during the Napoleonic Wars to supply the British Royal Navy with pulley blocks. They started the age of mass-production using all-metal machine tools and are regarded as one of the seminal buildings of the British Industrial Revolution. They are also the site of the first stationary steam engines used by the Admiralty.

Later history

The Block Mills have remained in constant Navy occupation ever since and in consequence are not open to the public. Manufacture of blocks using these machines naturally declined over the years, production finally stopping in the 1960s, but some of the original machines, part of the transmission drives and the engine-house shells still survive in the buildings. The National Museum of Science and Industry, London, has a selection of machines, donated by the Admiralty between 1933 and 1951, and others are on display in the Dockyard Apprentice Museum at Portsmouth. Several websites claim that Smithsonian Institution in Washington, USA, also have machines from Portsmouth: this is a myth, according to the Institution.

Related Topics:
National Museum of Science and Industry - Dockyard Apprentice Museum - Smithsonian Institution - Washington

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