Guard House At Entrance To North Section, St George'S Barracks

GOSPORT SU 6100 MUMBY ROAD (West side) 1137-0/5/81 Guard house at entrance to north section, St George's Barracks 20.4.81

GV II

Guard house, disused. 1856-59. Yellow stock brick, painted to front, stone dressings and a flat roof Single-depth plan with rear cells. EXTERIOR: Single storey; 5-arch range. Symmetrical front with an impost band to an arcade of5 open round arches, cornice and parapet; an open area inside the arcade has 3 flat-headed 6/6-pane sashes, and a right-hand doorway, the returns have small front lights with arched heads. An ashlar clock tower has rusticated quoins to a cornice with louvered vents, clock faces originally to 4 sides within round arches and clasping pilasters, to a cornice and pyramidal leaded roof and iron weather vane. INTERIOR: Contains a fire-proof frame of jack arches, with small cells and rooms for the guard. HISTORY: Overlooked the main entrances to the 2 sections of the barracks; clock towers were a common feature of mid C19 barracks. The barracks functioned as a transit station for infantry built after the Crimean War. They were designed to be bomb-proof, against mortar attack, because of their location just inside the Gosport Lines. This is the only example of this type of barracks in the country, forming a complete group with the Lines earthworks, and marking Gosport's importance in the defences around the Portsmouth dockyard. (Harfield A: The Gosport Barracks, sometimes known as "New Barracks": Gosport: 1988-: 16-21; Plans of the Barracks of England: South-Western District: London: 1859-: 8).

Listing NGR: SU5870301371