Marchwood Yacht Club (Former Entrance Lodges) And Attached Wall And Gates

Entrance lodges and gates, now club building. The buildings are dated 1814 on a foundation stone. They are constructed of red brick with roofs of grey slate laid to diminishing courses, except to the porticos which are felted. Two rectangular buildings flank a forecourt, with the west side closed by a brick wall featuring a central entrance with gates. Each lodge has two 6-pane sash windows with glazing bars flanking a central door with overlight. All openings are topped with flat gauged brick arches. In front of each lodge stands a portico supported on six cast iron columns, probably dating from the 1850s. The main roof is hipped to the front and rear, with a central brick chimney stack. The west forecourt wall is of red brick, terminating in square piers with sunk panels and surmounted by urns. Plain iron gates with spiked terminals occupy the central space.

The lodge to the north originally served as a guard house and engine house, while the lodge to the south functioned as a watch house and office. Marchwood was conceived in 1811 as a store depot similar to Tipner near Portsmouth, intended to exploit potential canal communications from Southampton Water, including the Redbridge-Andover, Northampton-Winchester and Bursledon-Botley navigations. The original plan called for a 20,000-barrel magazine with two 10,000-barrel magazines. Following deliberation, plans submitted in 1811 by Sir William Congreve, Comptroller of the Royal Laboratory at Woolwich, were adopted over those by General Fisher, commanding officer of the Portsmouth Royal Engineers' Department. Three magazines, each with a capacity of 6,800 barrels, were subsequently built, along with a small internal L-shaped canal for moving barrels by barge and a centrally-placed Shifting House.

The shortcomings revealed by the Crimean War led to a decision to increase storage capability, prompting additional magazines to be built at Marchwood, Tipner and Upnor. In July 1853, the Commander Royal Engineers at Portsmouth was asked to prepare a report on the expense of making Marchwood serviceable again. The magazines were ordered in September to be made fit to receive powder from Dover, and in November the floor of Magazine No. 3 was ordered to be made good before the establishment was re-established as a Powder Station with officers appointed. This second foundation of Marchwood, effectively marking a fresh start, was accompanied by a vast increase in storage: four new magazines—three with capacity for 14,400 barrels and one for 9,600 barrels—were built in 1856-57. 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 soon afterwards, with 45 employees recorded in 1898. Magazines B, E, F and G were destroyed by the Luftwaffe in June 1940. Following the Second World War, the Admiralty's use of the depot declined steeply after 1945, and it was finally closed in 1961.