| More information : (SZ 63149917) - SZ 63219957 Town Wall shewn but not described) (1)
(SZ 6219937) King Edward's Tower (GT) (Site of) (2)
(SZ 63079925) Square Tower (TI) (2) (SZ 63379909) King's Bastion (TI) (2) (SZ 63049930) King James's Gate (GT) (Site of) (2) (SZ 53239913) Long Curtain, Moat (TI) (2) (1-2)
Until the 14thc, at least, Portsmouth was undefended. During
1421-4 defences were under construction but by 1539 they were so
decayed that new ramparts had to be thrown up. These had fallen
down two years later but were rebuilt in the Late 16thc. (3)
The fortifications were remodelled by Sir Bernard de Gomme
1665-8(4). (A map by de Gomme(5) shows that these defences were
practically identical with those shown on the OS 25" 1867 (1))
By 1800 the Town had become a military fortress (See plan (10))
and the town walls were demolished between 1871 and 1878. (3).
The Round Tower, erroneously called by the OS King Edward's
Tower,(9) was probably built temp Hen.VIII, though Virtue (6)
gives temp Edw.IV, and the BA Handbook (7), temp Edward III, and
Corney (10) early 15thc. In the 16thc it was known as Ridley's
Tower after John Ridley, Keeper of the Tower, 1536 (4). A chain
laid across the harbour in 1522 to prevent the passage of ships
was kept taut by a capstan alongside the tower. It was still in
use in 1779 when there was danger of attack by the French and
Spanish fleets (6).
The Square Tower, built 1492, was originally of several storeys,
but a drawing temp Charles II shows it rising only a little above
the Great Platform (qu. below). In the Civil War and until 1779 it
was in use as an ammunition store.(4)
The King's Bastion (3) occupies the site of the circular Green
Bulwark, first mentioned in 1547 (4). King James's Gate, or Point
Gate, erected 1687 (8), has been removed and now forms the
entrance to the Officers' Recreation Ground(7).
The Great Platform, first mentioned in 1542, was being rebuilt in
1568. (Shown at SZ63129917)(4)
Towns Mount (3) or the 'Great Bastillion at Portsmouth'
(SZ 63579964) probably the first Orillon-bastion built in England,
was completed before 1547 (4).
Guy's Bastion (3) (SZ 63399979) was described in 1547 as a 'new
bastylian'. (3-10)
All that remains of the defences of Portsmouth lie between the Round Tower and the King's Bastion, and all appear to have been
rebuilt or refaced at about the same time as the 1814
restoration of Southsea Castle (SZ 69 NW 12). The stretch of
ashlar walling between the Round Tower and the Great Platform has
recently been restored and laid out as a public promenade.
The Round Tower and the Great Platform, almost entirely of E19thc
reconstruction, have likewise been lately restored and opened
to the public as open-air seating places. There seem to be no
documentary evidence to support the OS publication of the Round
Tower as King Edward's Tower, although it undoubtedly stands on the
site of an earlier tower of uncertain date. The Square Tower,
circa 9.0m high, was probably restored in the E19thc. It is the
property of the War Office. The King's Bastion is an earthen mound
with a revetment wall of ashlar with brick added during an E19thc
restoration. A moat on the seaward side has been filled in and
the site is occupied by a car park.
The 'Long Curtain' at SZ 63259913 is an earthen platform with a
brick-topped ashlar revetment and a now-dry moat to seaward.
No trace of the defences survives elsewhere, but a number of
gates removed when the walls were destroyed, are set up in
different parts of the city. With the exception of King James's
Gate now standing at (SZ 6363-9997) these all date from the L18th and E19th centuries.
Of Towns Mount and Guys Bastion, no trace remains.
Published 1:2500 survey correct.
The 'Long Curtain' at SZ 63259913 is an earthen platform with a
brick-topped ashlar revetment and a now-dry moat to seaward. (11)
Long Curtain - Scheduled 260 Point Battery including King Edward's Tower and Square Tower -
Scheduled 261
King's Stairs, Sally Port, Eighteen Gun Battery, Round Tower ,
Flanking Battery and Walls. Grade 1 (12,13)
The principle reason for the construction and improvement of
Portsmouth's fortifications during the C16th appears to have been for
the protection of the Navy's victualling stores rather than the
safety of the town, which consisted of no more than 85 households in
1565.
The earliest defences, constructed from 1416-22 consisted of 2
towers, one on either side of the harbour entrance; the eastern
`Round Tower' is still extant, and these were linked by a raisable
chain. A beaked projection on its South side, the `Murder House',
and the Square Tower were added in the reign of Henry VII.
There is no evidence for a defensive circuit around the town until
1522-4 when the indications suggest an earthwork line of bank and
ditch, strengthened by bulwarks, and possibly revetted. The outlying
bulwarks of Ketes Point (later Southsea Castle) and Palshed's
(Windmill) Bulwark probably date from 1522-3. A ditch and bank
extended South-Eastwards from the Green Bulwark (now King's Bastion)
at Portsmouth parallel to the shore, towards Ketes Point probably
dates from 1539. An additional bulwark was created near the modern
Clarence Pier, and a further bulwark, Chatterton's, was added in the
area of the later Lump's Fort.
By 1544 the town and outlying defences were in poor repair; these
were repaired and the Southern bank and ditch probably extended from
Chatterton's Bulwark to Eastney or possibly as far as Fort
Cumberland.
Considerable attention was paid to the town walls throughout the
remainder of the C16th to form a complete circuit with bulwarks and
artillery platforms, and, under Richard Popinjay, surveyor 1560-85,
it had become fully bastioned by the end of the century. (14)
Portsmouth town defences in 1545. Illus. (15)
The defences were entirely modified by Sir Bernard de Gomme and the
plan effected between 1665 and ca. 1690. The walls were considerably
widened, with a wide central bastion emplaced between the much
enlarged corner bastion. (see illustration card 4). At the angles
between the bastions, ravelins projected on the Southern and Eastern
sides, and a double moat was created in front of the Landport. A
hornwork was added beyond the South-Eastern corner, on the edge of
Southsea Common, and consisted of a 2-storey masonry redoubt in the
re-entrant angle connected with the body of the place by a long
caponier. Finally, 2 redoubts were added on the seaward side, the
Spur Redoubt to the North of King's Bastion and a second in the Outer
Camber between Beeston's Bastion and the Victualling Quay; the Camber
Bastion was added in the Inner Camber. The outworks on the landward
side comprised a double moat with a tenaille trace between them,
running from just North of the Landport Ravelin to the NE corner of
King's Lunette. Beyond the outer moat was a glacis.
De Gomme's plan was completed after his death in 1684, by Thomas
Philips and Sir Martin Beckman with additional modifications such as
the Mill Redoubt.
In the early C18th, Talbot Edwards merged the double-moats to produce
a single covered-way, but although much was planned, little was done.
The next major programme, and eventually the last was undertaken by
J.P.Desmaretz, in the mid C18th, who increased the wall thickness,
converted King's Lunette to a ravelin and added 2 more ravelins, the
Montague and East Ravelins. Although further extensive works were
carried out in the late C18th and early C19th, these were mainly
concerned with refurbishment of the Desmaretz designs and upgrading
the towns armament.
With the exception of the stretch from King's Bastion to the Round
Tower, the Portsmouth defences were demolished ca. 1870. (16)
Reconstructed map of Portsmouth ca. 1677-85. See Illus. 4.
Reconstructed map of Portsmouth 1745-56. See Illus. 5. (17)
(Refer to the following for further information:
The Camber - see SZ 69 NW 44
Gosport Lines and the Western Harbour defences (C16th-19th) - see
SU 60 SW 25
Hilsea Lines and Portsbridge - see SU 60 SE 19
Portsea Island, Southern defences - see SZ 69 NE 8 and SZ 69 NW 12
Portsmouth Dockyard and its defences - see SU 60 SW 32
The Late C19th Palmerstonian Forts - see SU 50 SW 25 and SZ 59 NE 8)
The first shutter telegraph was built at Portsmouth in 1796, and was
situated SE of King's Ravelin where the glacis and Southsea Common
merge, and was disused but still standing in 1823. It had been
superceded by a new station by the Little Morass, close to the present Clarence Pier in the early 1800's due to army concerns at keeping the glacis free from obstruction.
Before 1822, a subsidiary semaphore had ben used on The Platform for
signalling to ships, but this was taken down in July 1822 and
everything transfered to the Square Tower. In 1833, an imposing
tower was built over the Sail Loft and Rigging House and a new
semaphore erected there, and both stations were disused when the semaphore line ceased operating in 1847. (18)
During the Civil War Portsmouth was one of the most important and heavily defended south coast ports. The Royalist garrison was secure behind the medieval earth ramparts and stone walls until Portsmouth surrendered in September 1642. (20)
The Stokes Bay Lines defences were built 1859-60, providing a 5.5km long continuous defence along Stokes Bay between Fort Blockhouse to Browndown. These comprised a linear earthwork moat and rampart defended by five new batteries. Now levelled, the course of the moat can still be seen as a cropmark along much of its length. Parts of this and the remaining batteries have been mapped from aerial photographs as part of the SWRCAS and Historic England: Gosport HAZ (Heritage Action Zone) and Alver Valley Aerial Investigation and Mapping project.(21-24)
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