Building MPM1611 - Lock Keepers Cottage, Gunwharf Quays

The Lock Keepers Cottage is thought to be one of the oldest surviving buildings on the New Gunwharf site, constructed at some point between 1799 and 1861. It acted as a guardhouse for the swing-bridge linking the Old and New Gunwharf during the 1800s. During the 20th century the building was mainly used as offices for the Gunwharf yard. A watching brief in 2003 revealed the west wall and west end of the north wall are all that survives of the original Guard House dating to the early 1800s. The building was altered and its orientation changed at some point between 1860 and 1900. The current structure is a single-storey rectangular brick building with a hipped tiled roof.

The Guard House was originally constructed on a north-south alignment, and had a large central room with smaller flanking rooms to the north and south, and three smaller rooms projecting to the east. A colonnaded veranda on the exterior of the building faced the harbour to the west. At some point between 1860 and 1900 the buildings orientation was changed from north-south to east-west and the veranda removed. The interior now consisted of two rooms, the western used by the Wharf Foreman, the eastern by Ships Captains, and there was a centrally placed three-column veranda on the south side. The veranda is shown in an early 20th century photograph as a flat-roofed structure. Evidence of the veranda was noted during a watching brief in 2003 in the form of a stone plinth running the length of the south façade and two projecting square stone blocks, which flanked a pair of centrally placed doors. The stone blocks were thought to have acted as supports to the veranda, which may have been partially freestanding as no marks relating to fixtures were observed in the wall.

Evidence of the two phases of construction was revealed during a watching brief in 2003. Trenches exposed the footings for walls in the north elevation of the structure. At the west end of the elevation the footings for the earlier building, dating to c.1800, were large deep brick foundations supporting a stone plinth. At the east end of the elevation footings for the late 19th century alterations had been constructed using shallow brick foundations supporting a brick plinth. A small chimney stack in the centre of the north elevation marked the change between the two phases. A cavity was exposed by damage to the north east corner of the building, would indicate that the building was altered around 1900, when this type of wall construction came into use. A map dated 1900 shows the building was on its current alignment by this date.


Accession No: 2003/2022

Barge, M, 2003, Lock Keepers Cottage, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth: Results of the Archaeological Watching Brief (Unpublished document). SPM287.