Hm Young Offenders Institution Gatehouse, with Vr Letter Box is a Grade II listed building in the Dorset local planning authority area, England. Gatehouse.

Hm Young Offenders Institution Gatehouse, with Vr Letter Box

WRENN ID
haunted-baluster-birch
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Dorset
Constituency
South Dorset MP: Lloyd Hatton (Lab)
Country
England
Type
Gatehouse
Address
Hm Young Offenders Institution Gatehouse, with Vr Letter Box, the Grove, Portland
OS grid reference
SY 702 722
Coordinates
50.54922, -2.42182
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The gatehouse to HM Young Offenders Institution, originally part of HM Borstal, was built in 1848 and is no longer used as an entry point. It is constructed from rough squared and coursed stone, featuring dressed quoins with a pecked center and drafted edges, along with ashlar window and other dressings. The roof is not visible behind the parapets. The structure is a plain cubic block with a central section that has an elliptical-arched opening, adorned with alternating voussoirs on moulded caps to the responds. Each side has a two-storey bay, with a small window above a larger one, both surrounded by plat bands with segmental heads and heavy cills, featuring 8-pane sashes above 16-pane sashes, plus external iron bars. The building has a plain plinth, an ovolo-mould cornice, and a high parapet with plain coping. Above the central arch, there is a raised blocking with a scrolled pediment that displays a high relief model of the Royal Arms and the date. Inside the arch, there is a pair of flush panel doors with a segmental head and voussoirs. To the left inside the arch, there is a Portland stone moulded podium that holds a Victorian pillar box. This gatehouse was built to serve the former Portland Prison.

Local climate

Hm Young Offenders Institution Gatehouse, with Vr Letter Box 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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Nearby listed buildings

  1. Governor's House with Front Boundary Wall Grade II 31 m
  2. Boundary Wall to West of Hm Young Offenders Institution Grade II 84 m
  3. Hm Young Offender Institution, East Cell Block Grade II 94 m
  4. Hm Young Offender Institution, West Cell Block Grade II 103 m
  5. Ventilator Shaft at Ngr Sy 7028 7217 Grade II 104 m
  6. Hm Young Offender Institution, Overseer's Hut with Inclines Grade II 156 m
  7. Ventilator Shaft at Ngr Sy 7033 7237 Grade II 156 m
  8. Hm Young Offender Institution, North and East Boundary Walls Grade II 163 m
  9. Hm Young Offender Institution, E Hall Grade II 167 m
  10. Ventilator Shaft at Ngr Sy 7037 7216 Grade II 184 m