The Captain's House and Attached Wall to South East is a Grade II listed building in the Dorset local planning authority area, England. Ruins. 2 related planning applications.
The Captain's House and Attached Wall to South East
- WRENN ID
- vacant-buttress-fern
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Dorset
- Constituency
- South Dorset MP: Lloyd Hatton (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Type
- Ruins
- Address
- The Captain's House and Attached Wall to South East, High Street, Portland
- OS grid reference
- SY 685 734
- Coordinates
- 50.55966, -2.44571
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Captain's House and the attached wall to the southeast are the ruins of a former large detached house from the mid-18th century. Constructed from Portland ashlar with a pecked surface, the building currently has no roof. It is a long-standing ruin of a dignified house built in two parts. The left section is a symmetrical two-storey unit with three windows and a central portico, while beyond a straight joint is a wide one-bay unit featuring a two-storey canted bay.
The left part has three-over-two openings with stone cills, which were formerly fitted with sash windows, and a central Gibbsian portico with only the remains of the cheeks and banded front piers. The full entablature, complete with a modillion cornice and pediment, still exists, along with worn steps and the lowest stone course to the cheeks. There are openings on each side of the porch leading to the basement. The canted bay to the right once had three large sashes at each level, characterized by extremely narrow corner mullions.
On the left return, there is an elegant small Palladian window with keystones above a similar doorway. The south gable features a central opening at the first floor and another at ground level to the left. Inside, there is a cross wall at the center, with remnants of a fireplace in the east wall at the first floor, featuring a square opening and hearth, and a similar but less prominent fireplace on the ground floor. There is a wall niche opposite the main door and a shallow niche approximately 2 meters high and 450 millimeters wide on the east wall near the Palladian door. Steps lead down to the basement from the entry hall, which has a stone floor.
Additionally, from the middle of the south gable wall, a stone boundary wall approximately 2.5 meters high extends to the site boundary and returns towards High Street in irregular steps. This house was once one of the grandest in Underhill but now requires attention to stabilize it for the future.
Local climate
The Captain's House and Attached Wall to South East receives an average of 840 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 55% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 77% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 13 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 88% of listed buildings. Of these, 5 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2020
- Related listed building consents — 2 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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