Former Clock Tower And Offices, Marine Gate The Armoury, The Drill House And The Clocktower The Colonnades

FORMER CLOCK TOWER AND OFFICES, MARINE GATE, CROMWELL ROAD, EASTNEY, PORTSMOUTH

A striking former barracks complex consisting of a clock tower with adjoining offices at Royal Marine Eastney Barracks, now converted to flats. Built between 1862 and 1871, probably designed by William Scamp for the Admiralty Works Department, with the tower constructed in 1870–71. The complex was converted to residential use in 1995.

The buildings are constructed in red brick, with the clock tower laid in English bond and the remaining structures in Flemish bond. Decorative features include brighter-red-brick arches and ashlar dressings throughout. Roofs are covered with slate and feature tall, corniced brick chimney stacks.

The site plan comprises an L-shaped main range with an east–west range (containing the Clock Tower and the Drill House) and a north–south range (the Colonnade), with a parallel range to the north (the Armoury).

The clock tower is designed in castle style with a lower section of three storeys that is battered. It features an ashlar band below the first floor, a string course below the third floor, mock-machicolation below the fifth floor, and an eaves cornice. A corbelled turret rises above the eaves and is topped with a conical stone cap. The roof is pyramidal with an iron-balustraded flat top, pedimented dormers on each side, and cross-corner chimneys with coupled flues framing on arch. A round-arched doorway, now a window, is accessible up a flight of stone steps on the west side. The tower features round-arched windows closely set and narrower on the third floor; small circular windows set in recessed panels on the fourth floor; and on the fifth floor, blind roundels with a central clock face on each side. An east-side bay has a blind ground-floor opening and narrow round-arched windows to the first and second floors.

The former office buildings (the Armoury, the Drill House, and the Colonnades) share common features including rusticated quoins, plat bands, first-floor lintel bands to the two east–west ranges, eaves bands, and stepped eaves. Openings feature segmental arches except in the north–south range, which has round arches on the ground floor and flat arches above. Windows are fitted with small-paned sashes or fixed lights. Doors are panelled, some in pairs, and set below overlights with glazing bars.

The Armoury (north range) has an eleven-bay north elevation arranged in a 3:5:3 pattern with projecting end sections and a two-bay return elevation. The Drill House (parallel range to the south) has a two-bay east elevation with a gable treated as a pediment, stone kneelers, and a cornice. The south elevation of this range is stuccoed and scored as ashlar, with seven windows on the second floor. The Colonnade, forming the east elevation of the north–south range, is set back slightly and comprises five bays plus five bays, with the left section projecting slightly. The colonnade features wider arches in the left-hand section, rusticated brick quoins, piers and arches, and an ashlar cornice below a coped parapet.

The tower was necessitated by the low-lying position of the barracks adjacent to the seashore. William Scamp, who designed the complex, was assistant director of the Admiralty Works Department and associated with the Royal Dockyards during this period. The carefully laid-out site reflects its use by Marines and is probably the last large defensible barracks in the country. The complex represents part of the most complete English barracks of the post-Crimean War period.