Boundary wall and railings to the former Beaumont Cavalry Barracks

Boundary wall and railings to the former Beaumont Cavalry Barracks

This boundary wall encloses three sides of the former Beaumont Cavalry Barracks site, constructed in yellow stock brick laid in English bond with Portland stone copings. The south and eastern sections are topped by cast-iron railings.

The wall runs along Farnborough Road to the west and Alexandra Road to the south and east. It is interrupted by a separately listed gateway with two flanking guardrooms on the west side, and by Howard Cole Way on the south, which was laid out in the 1970s.

The first section begins at the north-west corner near the Wellington Roundabout and extends south along Farnborough Road to the listed gateway. Approximately 4 metres high with plain stone copings, the north end features a series of blocked window arches set high in the wall. These openings correspond to a Quartermaster's store that was built against the inside of the wall, as marked on the 1931 Ordnance Survey map. South of this are short sections with brick corbelling below the stone copings, followed by a slightly taller section with inset panels between broad pilaster strips, marking the location of a forage store. Another short section with brick corbelling adjoins the gateway.

The second section extends south of the gateway with a wavy, stepped profile as it ascends the hill towards the corner of Alexandra Road. The top features decorative corbelling, an oversailing soldier course and later concrete capping. This section terminates with a large brick pier with a corbelled cap.

The third section runs along Alexandra Road, forming the south and east boundary and pierced by Howard Cole Way. It begins as a low wall less than a metre high carrying iron railings. As it descends and then rises again with the slope of the land, it becomes a massive curved retaining wall, reaching 8.5 metres in height at its highest point. This section has Portland stone capping with square-section cast-iron railings. The upright supports for the railings are set into large Portland stone blocks beneath the capping, supported internally on brick buttresses, with diagonal supports set into the rear of the stone blocks. The tallest section contains square drainage holes arranged in a loose pattern and small arched drains at the foot. At the south-east corner, the wall has suffered severe cracking, with several sections showing patch repairs in modern red brick over the years.

The final part along the northern section of Alexandra Road to Auchinleck Way is of more recent date and does not form part of the listing.