Frobisher Court And Attached Wall

Frobisher Court and Attached Wall, Marchwood

A barracks building flanked by officers' quarters, now converted to houses. Built in 1816 and restored between 1990 and 1995, with new buildings in matching style added to the rear.

The structure is constructed of red brick on a Portland stone plinth, with the left flank rendered. The roof is covered in grey slate laid to diminishing courses and features brick chimneys. The building rises to two storeys with an attic lit by roof dormers.

The main block comprises seven bays, originally the barracks with four rooms. It is flanked by return wings of three bays, which were the original officers' quarters, with hipped roofs to the front and stair string courses at first floor level. The main entrance is formed by two central six-panel doors flanked by fluted pilasters and surmounted by a fanlight, all within a recessed panel. The sash windows are two-paned by six-paned and sit beneath cambered gauged brick arches with Portland stone cills. Two windows have been replaced by smaller sashes under segmental arches, and one has been blocked in the 20th century. The flanking blocks are entered from the side. The main roof displays two chimneys and two ventilators symmetrically placed; the return wings have dormers facing inwards.

The interior of the right-hand block retains its original stair with stick balusters and column newels, along with much original internal joinery and some original fireplaces.

A contemporary boundary wall extends from the right (north) side of the building in line with the front elevation. The wall features brick piers with stone caps inscribed "ORDNANCE HOUSE", a reference to the demolished Storekeeper's House of 1815.

Frobisher Court was part of Marchwood Royal Naval Armaments Depot, established in 1811 as a gunpowder magazine store. The site was conceived following plans submitted in 1811 by Sir William Congreve, Comptroller of the Royal Laboratory in Woolwich. Initially, three magazines with 6,800-barrel capacity each were constructed, along with a small internal L-shaped canal for moving barrels by barge and a centrally-placed Shifting House. Following inadequacies exposed by the Crimean War, the depot was substantially expanded. In July 1853, the commanding Royal Engineer at Portsmouth was asked to prepare a report on restoring Marchwood to serviceable condition. By September, magazines were ordered to receive powder from Dover, and by November the depot was re-established as a Powder Station. This second foundation marked a vast increase in storage capacity: four new magazines, three of 14,400-barrel and one of 9,600-barrel capacity, were built in 1856 to 1857. A Times article of 1864 noted that Marchwood was "the largest magazine in the Kingdom" with a capacity of 76,000 barrels of powder. The establishment began to decline thereafter, with 45 employees recorded in 1898. Magazines B, E, F and G were destroyed by the Luftwaffe in June 1940. The Admiralty's use of the depot declined steeply after 1945 and it was closed in 1961.