Church Of Saint Ann (Building Number 1/65)

The Church of St Ann, built between 1785 and 1786, is located within the HM Naval Base in Portsmouth. It suffered bomb damage in 1941 and was subsequently restored between 1955 and 1956. The church was possibly designed by Marquand, a Navy Board surveyor working under Samuel Wyatt, with construction carried out by Thomas Parlby & Sons.

The church is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond, with a concealed roof. The plan comprises a five-bay galleried nave, a narrower single-bay crossing, and a further single-bay chancel with attached north and south vestries. A cupola with a bell sits atop the west end. The windows have brick arches, segmental on the ground floor and round at gallery level, with ashlar sills and 20th-century metal windows. Stepped eaves are topped by an ashlar cornice and a coped parapet. The west front, rebuilt between 1955 and 1958, features three bays with corner pilasters, supporting a corniced pediment containing a blind oculus. Steps lead to a central, pedimented ashlar porch with a double door set in an architrave. The outer bays have flat-arched windows linked by recessed brick panels to round-arched upper windows; the central upper window has a keystone. The reconstructed cupola has columns supporting an entablature and a metalled dome, surmounted by an elaborate weather vane on a ball.

The interior features a three-sided gallery reconstructed 1955-56, supported by columns with fluted capitals. A notable feature of the gallery is an early 18th-century carved wooden coat of arms belonging to the Gifford family, incorporating the royal coat of arms, figures of Justice (blindfolded, carrying scales) and Fame (with a trumpet), and dolphins. Sir William Gifford served as Commissioner of the dockyard from 1702 to 1705. The nave and chancel have panelled walls and a ceiling cornice. The chancel arch is flanked by pilasters surmounted by urns, with swagged drapes over the arch. The east window has pilasters with acanthus leaf capitals and a scalloped archivolt with a central laurel wreath, also adorned with swagged drapes. A large, elaborate chandelier roundel with acanthus leaf motifs and decorated scalloping hangs from the nave ceiling. A pewter chandelier from 1704, gilded in 1956, is also present. Other features include a marble font from 1856, an eagle lectern from 1882, a Gothic-style wooden pulpit from 1906, and various 19th-century marble memorials.

The church is the oldest surviving chapel within the naval yard and forms a significant group with the ropery buildings and the Commissioner's House. It is listed to reflect the substantial mid-20th century rebuilding of the front façade and the interior redecoration.