Building immediately north of former powder magazines at Tipner Magazine

This is a derelict cooperage, built between 1798 and 1800 as part of the Tipner Magazine complex, to designs by Colonel Mulcaster, the Royal Commission Engineer based at Portsmouth. It was constructed of red brick in a Flemish bond pattern, with grey brick used as headers. The building has a flat roof that is hidden from view.

The south-facing front has seven bays. The central bay features a pair of thick, round-headed doors, each with six flush panels, set beneath a gauged brick round arch. To the left of the entrance are three blinded window openings, and to the right, one, each with segmental gauged brick arches. The two outer left window openings have flush brick infills set into the jambs, while the others have recessed brick panels. A brick band runs along the first floor. A later brick external staircase with concrete steps is positioned on the far right, leading up to a first-floor window set under a segmental gauged brick arch. To the left of the staircase are four blinded window openings, and to the right, one, all with recessed brick panels set under segmental brick arches. Above the entrance is a boarded hatch, a brick band, and a stone-coped parapet. The rear elevation is also seven bays wide, with two blinded window openings with recessed brick infills on the ground floor. The first floor has three sixteen-pane sash windows, positioned alternately between four blinded window openings with recessed brick infills, each set under a segmental brick arch.

The interior has not been inspected.

The building’s construction was prompted by concerns regarding the vulnerability of arsenals and the state of the nation’s gunpowder following the war with France and the invasion scare of 1779. Originally intended to be circular vaulted magazines, the design was later altered to a structure with groined arches and a copper-clad wooden roof. From 1805 until the mid-1820s, Tipner served as a storage magazine for gunpowder being restored at Stamshaw. Following an appraisal in 1856, magazine accommodation at Tipner, Marchwood, and Upnor was increased. A southern extension with parabolic arches, similar to those at Weedon Bec and Upnor, was then constructed. In 1890, with the division of ordnance depots, the site passed to the Army. Later, when the magazines were converted to general ordnance storage, iron doors were installed.