Listed Building: THE UNICORN GATE (1244587)

Includes: The Unicorn Gate, UNICORN ROAD HM NAVAL BASE Portsea town gate, then entrance to naval dockyard. 1779 (Patterson), demolished and re-erected as dockyard entrance 1865 (Lloyd). Ashlar. Central carriage archway flanked by pedestrian archways, all round-arched. Vermiculated plinth. Rusticated centrepiece breaks forward, the archway has dropped keystone and voussoirs aligned to courses; flanking paired pilasters support entablature with cornice and pediment in which is unicorn couchant and bearing standard. Pedestrian archways have architraves and are set in walls which have cornices, sweep up to centre, and terminate in square piers with cornices and ball on cushion finials. HISTORY: the Unicorn Gate was originally located on Anchor Gate Road, just east of the present Anchor Gate (not included, Patterson). It is now reset on the alignment of the dockyard extension wall (qv). (Sources: Lloyd DW: Buildings of Portsmouth and its Environs: Portsmouth: 1974: 62; A Military Heritage: Patterson BH: A History of Portsmouth and Portsea Town Fortifications: Portsmouth: 1984: 25, 26). Selected Sources Books and journals Lloyd, D W , Buildings of Portsmouth and its Environs, (1974), 62 Patterson, B H , A History of Portsmouth and Portsea Town Fortifications, (1984), 25, 26