Listed Building: FORT CUMBERLAND (1104273)

Fort. 1746. By the Duke of Cumberland, reconstructed 1786 by the Duke of Richmond, some alterations and additions C19. Stone and brick. Originally built in the form of a 5 angled star, then reconstructed 1786 in its present form with wide pentagonal shaped rampart with 5 sharply angled bastions at each of the points, a dry moat and glacis and 1 ravelin. Ramparts are faced externally in stone with brick parapets and segmental arched gun ports behind which are deep tunnel-vaulted brick casemates covered with several feet of earth. HISTORY: the fort is a direct descendant of the bastioned fortress pioneered in Italy in late C15 and the last fortress to be built here marking the final development of this type of design in Britain. It is perhaps the best piece of C18 defensive architecture left in Britain. Scheduled Ancient Monument. (Balfour A: Portsmouth: London: 1970-: 22; Lloyd DW: Buildings of Portsmouth and its Environs: Portsmouth: 1974-: 62; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Lloyd DW: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight: Harmondsworth: 1967-: 428). Selected Sources Books and journals Balfour, A, Portsmouth, (1970), 22 Lloyd, D W , Buildings of Portsmouth and its Environs, (1974), 62 Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, (1967), 428