More information : (SZ 6291 9937) Round Tower [NR] (1)
Between 1416 and 1422, £1069.9s.8 1/2 was spent on building a tower `for the safe keeping of the King's ships', and constructing a wharf at `Childrode' (Gosport) as a foundation for a second tower. The intention was to use a raisable chain to close the mouth of the harbour against enemy shipping. The Round Tower had to be protected from the sea by rocks secured by wooden piling. During Elizabeth's reign, every vessel plying between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight was required to bring one boat-load of stones per annum and `boye them within the pyles of the Round Tower' or pay a 2s fine. (2)
Between 1492 and 1494, £2099.16s.4d was spent on refurbishing the towers and adding a beaked projection to the South of the Round Tower, `the murder-house', to provide raking gunfire along the Tower's Southern approach. (3)
The chain was still in use in 1779. (4)
Scheduled. Hants 261. (5)
Listed, Grade I. The Round Tower fortification, now museum. c1415. Ground floor reconstructed c1538-40. 2 upper storeys added probably late C17 by Sir Bernard de Gomme and remodified early C19, possibly for adaptation as a Martello Tower. Top raised and reconstructed and adapted as a gun platform c1850. Restored late C20. Ashlar stone. Roof asphalt paved. 3 storeys separated by stone string bands, lower storey projects. Cylindrical. Entrance facing Board Street has a 2-leaf panel door each leaf with a 6-pane glazed upper panel, set under a cambered stone arch. Facing the harbour on north and west sides are 3 gun ports each set under a flat segmental arch. 3 other gun ports were blocked up probably late C17 by Sir Bernard de Gomme.
INTERIOR: rebuilt early C19 was reconstructed and has a large
central stone column with brick vaulting, casements formed behind the surviving gun ports. (6)
Documented. (7) |