Event/Activity EPM216 - Archaeological Building Recording at the Fleet Photographic Unit, Tipnor Lane, Portsmouth

An archaeological building recording was carried out by Southampton Archaeology Unit at the former Fleet Photographic Unit, Tipner, on the 19th and 20th July 2012. The recording was undertaken ahead of the redevelopment of the site which involved the demolition of the existing buildings. The recording consisted of a photographic survey and the production of measured sketches to create scaled plans in AutoCAD. Photographs were taken using Minolta 35mm SLR cameras with Ilford FP4 monochrome film and Kodak colour slide film. Digital photographs were also taken for inclusion within the site report. Undated plans found on site, probably pre-1990, were also used in the creation of the scaled plans. These recorded what the individual rooms within the buildings had been used for. The site had been used as the Royal Naval School of Photography between 1920 and 1939, the Royal Naval Film Unit from 1939 until 1965, and the Fleet Photographic Unit between 1983 and 2003, when the unit was closed along with all Royal Naval darkrooms. The western end of the site had been truncated when the M275 was constructed in 1976. The recording concluded that the oldest surviving building probably dated to 1920 when the Royal Naval School of Photography was established. This was a classic example of an early-20th century hut-type building with walls of a single brick width. The 1932 Ordnance Survey map and aerial photographs taken in c1941 and 1953 also show a row of single-storey gabled buildings, which appear to represent the other original buildings which formed the site. It is not known when these buildings were demolished, although this would have been post 1953. A purpose built Cine Studio possibly dated to when the Royal Naval Film Unit was established in 1939. This had undergone a number of changes since its original construction, probably relating to when the film unit had moved out of the site between 1965 and 1983. The remaining buildings, consisting of a purpose built film laboratory, store room and boiler house, and film storage unit, dated to when the film unit returned in the 1980s. One end of the film storage unit had been reinforced with fire safety precautions, probably due to the storage of flammable nitrate film. The other end of the building had been used to store cellulose film and did not require the same safety measures. The site was redeveloped as the Portsmouth Park and Ride. Accession No: 2012/560