South west section of boundary wall to Tipner Magazine

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TIPNER TIPNER POINT South west section of boundary wall to Tipner Magazine

(Formerly listed as: TIPNER LANE, TIPNER. APPROXIMATELY 30 METRES OF BOUNDARY WALL IN SOUTH WEST CORNER OF TIPNER MAGAZINE)

22-NOV-79

GV II Boundary wall to ordnance depot. 1789-1800. Red brick in English bond. Approximately 3 metres high with recessed panels, brick dentil course at top of each recess then four full width courses and round brick capping. Extends approximately 30m to south west corner of magazine (qv). Boundary wall protected the landward side of the magazine, other sides protected by the sea.

HISTORY: The recent war with France, and the invasion scare of 1779 led to concerns about the vulnerability of the arsenals and had exposed an alarming situation concerning the state of the nation's gunpowder. The former was foremost in the mind of the new (appointed 1782) Master-General of the Board of Ordnance, George Lennox the Third Duke of Richmond. Although his plan to enhance the landward fortifications of Portsmouth and Plymouth was defeated in the House of Commons in 1786, his other strategy - to divide and separate the magazines - was implemented at Portsmouth with the acquisition of land at Tipner Point between 1789 and 1791.

The original design for a pair of circular vaulted magazines was superceded by the present one for a magazine with groined arches and a copper-clad wooden roof. From 1805 until the mid 1820s Tipner acted as deposit magazine for the restoving of old gunpowder at Stamshaw nearby (demolished). The magazine accommodation at Tipner, Marchwood and Upnor was increased following appraisal by Lord Panmure, the Secretary of State for War, of the Committee on Magazines report of March 1856.

The southern extension to the magazine was built with parabolic arches, as used at Weedon Bec and Upnor. On the division of the ordnance depots between the two services in 1890, the site passed to the Army, and on conversion of the magazines into general ordnance storage the present iron doors were inserted.