The documents from Admiralty records, consist of nine plans of the yard. Five are dated between 1722 and 1748. Another unfinished and undated plan of the yard includes the street pattern of the town. The three other plans are undated but are of the same period: two are of the slips in the yard and the other is a plan for a boiler for steaming timber.

Administrative / biographical background
The first yard officers were appointed to Harwich yard in 1652 and it was of particular importance during the Dutch wars. It functioned as a small refitting and storing base throughout the eighteenth century and was closed in 1829, although it became a base for coastal forces in both World Wars.