More information : (SZ 6312 9916) The Platform [NAT] (1)
The Platform probably dates from the walling of the town ca. 1522-26 and was intended as an artillery platform to support fire from between the Square Tower and the Green Bulwark. It was considerably altered ca. 1568, `the seaward side to be joined and planked and provided with a `vamure' or parapet containing four loops for cannons towards the sea and one each side as flankers'. (2)
The platform was redesigned in the late C16th and early C19th, and by the 1860's, the Lower Saluting Platform between the Platform and the Square Tower, supported a 10-Gun Battery. Following the storm of October 1987, a section of the seaward wall collapsed, allowing archaeological investigation. The Tudor walling was of limestone, possibly from Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. Surprisingly, the remodelled C17th wall was not tied into the Tudor wall at any point. (3)
Scheduled. Hants 261. (4)
Listed, Grade I. (5)
Similar information. (6)
Old Saluting Battery located at SZ 631 992. By 1902 the battery was armed with three 12-pounder quick-firing (QF) guns. By the First World War this had been reduced to two guns. The guns were put into reserve by 1919. The battery was rearmed during the Second World War with a 6-pounder QF gun and operated as a Anti-motor torpedo site. It continued in this role throughout the duration of the war. (8-9)
Old Saluting Battery located at SZ 631 992. Building and emplacements remain, but part of the seaward wall collapsed around 1996. (10) |