Listed Building: BOILER SHOP WEST (BUILDING NUMBER 1/84) AND BOLLARDS TO NORTH WEST AND NORTH EAST CORNERS (1272313)

Alternatively known as: Tarring house, Ropery, SCOTT ROAD HM NAVAL BASE Hemp tarring house, now offices and store. 1747, considerably altered subsequently, particularly C20. Red brick with some blue headers in English bond. Slate roof. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, part with attic. 15 bays, the western section the earliest part. c1900 addition of 2 storeys, 3 x 4 bays at east end. Brick plinth; 1st floor concrete impost band; stepped eaves; western section has brick plat band and ashlar cornice. C20 small-pane metal windows with bright red gauged brick flat arches and stone sills. Wide segmental- arched entrances with later board doors. South side: bays arranged 5:10. One inserted 1st-floor loading door, and one former loading door now a window. On right of right-hand door, at low level, is recessed stone plaque with incised seriffed lettering, "under this stone theres a Water R(?)eerr". Addition at east end has central segmental-arched door, 3 stepped round-arched windows above, and shaped pedimented gable with 3 small louvred openings. North side similar. West end: 3 bays, central bay projecting and with pedimented attic, oculus in pediment. At north-west and north-east corners are cannon bollards comprising disused cannon barrels (C17 or C18) set on end for use as bollards (probably mid-late C19), the muzzles blocked, that at north-east corner by a cannon ball. INTERIOR: the western section on ground floor has chamfered timber posts with rivetted metal brackets, and in former eastern end wall a round archway. HISTORY: the earliest part of the ropery, converted from manual to horse power c1774; hemp was passed from the laying house for tarring before being returned to the spinning house. Although much altered, this is the oldest naval ropeyard building, and part of one of the largest integrated groups of C18 industrial buildings in the country. This is the only part of the mid C 18 ropery at Portsmouth to survive both the 1760 and 1770 fires. (Sources: Coad J: The Royal Dockyards 1690-1850: Aldershot: 1989: 203-206 ; The Portsmouth Papers: Riley RC: The Evolution of the Docks and Industrial Buildings in Portsmouth: Portsmouth: 1985: 10-11). Selected Sources Books and journals Coad, J G, The Royal Dockyards 1690-1850: Architecture and Engineering Works of the Sailing Navy, (1989), 203-206 Riley, R C, 'The Portsmouth Papers' in The Evolution of the Docks and Industrial Buildings in Portsmouth, (1985), 10-11