Monument MPM13 - Camber Bastion

Triangular limestone gun platform built in 1687 which projected into the Camber. The garrison magazine was incorporated into the platform during the 18th century and by 1865 the site was occupied by the garrison out-pensioners establishment. It was then redeveloped as a military hospital and was demolished in 1935. During the mid-20th century the site was used as a petroleum depot and became part of Vosper's shipyard. Substantial sections of the bastion wall were exposed during redevelopment work in 1988, and the remains of these are still in situ below ground level.

A limestone built gun platform, triangular in plan and projecting into Camber. Largely demolished following redunancy in late-18th century. Substantial stonework remains below modern ground level. [1]

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Limestone forward gun platform, triangular in plan, positioned midway along the east bank of the older Camber wall. Built in 1687, the bastion was part of Sir Bernard de Gomme's major redevelopment of the Portsmouth town defences. Large carved stones bearing the monogram 'JR 1687' (King James II) were incorporated into the salient faces of the bastion. One of these monograms was later reused in the wall of a small brick building at the entrance to Captains Row when the site was redeveloped in 1988 (see MPM1703).

By the early-18th century the garrison magazine was built into the landward end of the bastion, with cooperage near the salient. The magazine became redundant by the middle of the 18th century when it was relocated to Tipner.

By 1865 the bastion was in use as the garrison out-pensioners establishment. The site was then redeveloped as a military hospital which remained in use until the early-20th century.

[2]

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The entry in the museum collections database (1960/83) for the stone monogram now at Captains Row states that it was one of two monograms released when the bastion was demolished in 1935. [3]

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By 1956 the Bastion site was occupied by a petroleum depot (OS maps suggest the depot was construction between 1932 and 1952). [4, 5]

The land became part of Vosper's shipyard during the 1960s. By the time the site was redeveloped in 1988, all trace of the bastion above ground had been removed.

During redevelopment work in 1988, major sections of the bastion wall were exposed on the northwest and southwest sides. These showed the construction to be of Portland/Purbeck limestone standing up to 2 metres in height and 2.2 metres in section. An internal buttress in the same stone was located at the north-west side. A hollow triangle within the walls had been built up with gravel, presumably to gun platform level, before demolition of the upper work.

The solid red-brick base of the garrison powder-magazine was also uncovered. The walls of the magazine were 0.9 metres thick with external buttresses 1 metre in thickness at the base. Running north-east to south-west within these walls were three narrow bays of barrel-vaulted chambers, with arches made of red brick 0.35 metres thick. These would probably have supported the wooden floor of the magazine, providing ventilation and creating a dry storage environment in the building above. Only 1 metre of upstanding brickwork, including most of the arched chamber construction, remained to be examined.

The lower construction of the magazine was broken up and removed, but the remains of the bastion walls still exist in situ below ground level.

[6]

<1> Portsmouth City Council, n/a, Portsmouth City SMR Cards, SZ69NW11 (Index). SPM1.

<2?> Fox, R, 1991, Portsmouth's Ramparts Revisited (Bibliographic reference). SPM351.

<3> Portsmouth Museum Service, N/A, Portsmouth Museum Service Collections Database (Index). SPM424.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1932, Ordnance Survey Map 1932 (Map). SPM354.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1952, Ordnance Survey Map 1952 (Map). SPM67.

<6?> Fox, Russ, 1988, Camber Bastion (Excavation archive). SPM9.