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Shotley Gate and HMS Ganges
One of the most interesting and significant places on the
Shotley Peninsula is Shotley Gate, at the very end of the
peninsula.
From Shotley Point, there are superb views across the
Orwell and Stour Rivers, over to the busy ports of
Felixstowe (the largest container port in the country),
and to Harwich and Parkeston Quay.
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Shotley Point was destined to have strong connections
with the Navy. Originally an Anglo Saxon settlement,
Shotley Gate saw its first naval battle in AD885, when
Alfred, King of Wessex, fought off Guthrum the Dane's
invading army.
It was at Shotley Point that the wooden ship HMS Ganges
was berthed from 1899, and used as a cadet training ship
for the Royal Navy. In 1905 when the Ganges vessel was
finally retired (and towed away to Chatham), the training
facility, still named HMS Ganges, moved ashore.
The facility remained there until its closure in June 1976,
when its training function moved to HMS Raleigh, Torpoint,
Cornwall. More than 150,000 Navy recruits passed through
the gates of HMS Ganges. It was later opened as a police
training centre, but this too came to an end in the 1990s.
The mast of the HMS Ganges still stands on the now
derelict site, which is proposed to be developed in the
near future.
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