Portsmouth Square Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Portsmouth.
In the historic county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Modern Authority of Portsmouth; City of.
1974 county of Hampshire.
Medieval County of Hampshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SZ63079925
Latitude 50.78938° Longitude -1.10654°

Portsmouth Square Tower has been described as a certain Artillery Fort.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

The Square Tower fortification and Governor's residence, now museum. c1494, extensively altered to form a powder magazine c1580 and then the Admiralty Victualling store c1780, reinstated as part of the fortifications mid C19; restored 1978-1985. Stone and brick. Flat stone paved roof with 3 restored mid C19 gun races facing south-west. EXTERIOR: south-west part 1 storey and north-east part 2 storeys. 2 bays. Main entrance facing south-east within enclosed yard has on right a 2-leaf late C20 copy of the original C18 doors with lower panels and vertical iron bars to upper panels set under a segmental stone arch with rusticated voussoirs and jambs. On first floor is a mid C18 2-leaf 20-pane casement. To left at saluting platform level is a late C20 boarded door leading to roof area and to late C20 visitors' viewing balcony. North-west facade has on left a late C20 boarded door set within C15 opening. On right is an C18 2-leaf casement set within C15 opening and further right is a late C20 replica of the original C18 panelled door with vertical iron bars to top panel. First floor has on left a mid C19 2-leaf 4-pane casement and on far right a late C20 glazed infill. On north-east side facing Broad Street is a niche edged with a wreath. This contains a late C20 copy of a gilded lead bust of Charles I by Hubrecht le Sueur (original restored and now deposited in the City Museum). Below are the Royal Arms on a small bracket and the inscription reads "After his travels through all France into Spain and having passed very many dangers both by sea and land he arrived here the 5th day of October 1623". INTERIOR: the late C20 restoration has uncovered Tudor features including two fireplaces and C18 features which include a stone stairway on north-east side running from ground to former basement. (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1001870, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number po261
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1386904
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 462079.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 6504.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- The Square Tower
  Wikipedia entry
  CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
  Fortified Places
  Portsmouth-guide
Books
- Osborne, Mike, 2011, Defending Hampshire: The Military Landscape from Prehistory to the Present (Stroud: The History Press) p. 245 (listed in Appendix)
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 50
  Saunders, Andrew, 1997, Channel Defences (London; Batsford/English Heritage) p. 57, 119
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 88-9
  Berridge DW., 1985, Restoration of Square Tower, Old Portsmouth (Portsmouth)
  Barron, W.G., 1985, The Castles of Hampshire and Isle of Wight (Paul Cave) p. 41
  Lloyd, D.W., 1974, Buildings of Portsmouth and its Environs (Portsmouth) p. 55-59
  Corney, A., 1965, Fortifications in Old Portsmouth (Portsmouth) p. 15-17
Periodical Articles
- Renn, Derek, 1987, 'English fortification in 1485' Château Gaillard Vol. 13 p. 169-174
  Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 138 p. 220
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- B.M. Harleian MS. 1326 (Survey of 1623) British Library collection information
  SP12/186/27 (Survey of 1586) The National Archives reference
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Celia Fiennes, 1888, Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press) Vision of Britain online transcription
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Dave Hopkins, 2004, Extensive Urban Survey - Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (English Heritage) Download copy

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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