provision of ships' armaments was not the responsibility of the navy but of the independent board of ordnance, which already had a wharf and storage facility in the mount wise area of plymouth. this, however, began to prove insufficient and in 1719 the board established a new gun wharf on land leased from one sir nicholas morice, immediately to the north of the established dockyard. the morice yard was a self-contained establishment with its own complex of workshops, workers, officers, offices and storehouses. gunpowder was stored on site, which began to be a cause for concern among local residents (as was the older store in the royal citadel within the city of plymouth). in time new gunpowder magazines were built further north, first at keyham (1770s), but later (having to make way for further dockyard expansion) relocating to bull point (1850).