Royal Marine Barracks South Block And Attached Basement Railings

PLYMOUTH

SX4653NW DURNFORD STREET, Stonehouse 740-1/65/783 (East side) 01/05/75 Royal Marine Barracks: South block and attached basement railings

GV II*

Formerly known as: N & E Blocks, Officer's Mess, Dining Hall & Single Officers Accom. DURNFORD STREET Stonehouse, R M Barracks. Officers' accommodation at Marines barracks. 1780-83, built for the Ordnance Board by Messrs Templer & Parlby; extended c1860, to design by Col G Greene, Director of the Admiralty Works Department. MATERIALS: Plymouth limestone rubble with limestone dressings; dry slate hipped roof behind coped rubble parapet over bands; ashlar stack over cross wall towards right and lateral stack behind; truncated remains of stacks over the other 2 cross walls; dormer window at far right. PLAN: rectangular plan 6 rooms long plus 3 stair towers at rear. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys plus attic over basement; 16-window range. Mostly C20 horned copies of original or C19 hornless sashes with glazing bars within plain stone architraves. 3 former doorways with blocked jambs and stepped keys beneath a cornice linked to plat band; plate glass overlights and planked doors except for the doorway on the right which is now fitted with a window. A cast-iron moulded hopper to the front is inscribed GR 1780. INTERIOR: largely rebuilt mid C20. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: late C19 latticed and scrolled wrought-iron railings surrounding forecourt and flanking steps HISTORY: the E end is the only surviving part of the original officer's quarters containing the Commandant's House and that of his deputy in the ends, with officer's quarters between. It was extended to the W to provided accommodation for 8 more captain's as part of Greene's extension of the barracks, which enclosed the C18 parade ground. Barracks were built for the Marines regiments, formed in 1755, at Chatham, Portsmouth, and Devonport, but this is the only one to have survived. Stonehouse is the oldest and most important barracks in England not forming part of a fortification, a rare example of C18 planning, and a complex of great historic value. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: 1989-: 655).

Listing NGR: SX4640553976