Event/Activity EPM9 - Square Tower Historic Building Survey

An historic building survey was carried out by Portsmouth Museum Service during an extensive restoration of the Square Tower between 1979 and 1986. During the survey three trenches were excavated in the basement area in order to establish floor positions and examine adjacent features. The basement had been backfilled with shingle and soil during the 18th century. The excavation was limited as the lower level of the tower filled with sea water to a depth of 40-50cm. The basement floor was found to have originally been flagged, and an intact stairway with doorways at basement and first floor levels and a blocked window were revealed. The tower walls were found to have been built directly onto the shingle bank of Portsmouth Point. The interior walls of the tower were examined during the restoration work which revealed surviving 16th century features including stairways, windows and fireplaces, together with later modifications ranging in date from the 17th to 20th century. The survey concluded that many important features within the Square Tower had been lost or disfigured when the building was converted to a meat store in the late-18th century. The detail on the exterior walls had been covered up when the tower was refaced with Portland stone in 1827, and later-19th and 20th century modifications had also left their mark. However, many interesting and important features, some of 16th century date, were found to remain and were well preserved. It was not possible to ascertain whether the tower had been extensively modified between c1545 and c1584, as had been thought, as the evidence was inconclusive. During the restoration work a number of 20th century structures and features were demolished, including rusty iron rails and a concrete building on the roof and a first floor concrete structure and red-brick partition wall inside the tower. Mid-20th century workshops adjacent to the north-west wall were also demolished in order to create an unobstructed view of the tower wall and Sally Port to the right. Three 19th century gun emplacements were reconstructed on the roof and a blocked doorway in the south-east wall at ground floor level was reopened. Other necessary repairs to the building were carried out, and the whole of the interior was cleaned and grit-blasted where appropriate. The bust of Charles I was removed from its niche in the north-east exterior wall of the tower and cleaned and re-gilded. The bust was then replaced by a fibreglass replica, and the original placed in the collections of Portsmouth Museum Service.