Monument MPM1772 - Former Fleet Photographic Unit

Site of the former Fleet Photographic Unit, originally established as the Royal Naval School of Photography in 1920 and closed in 2003. The remaining buildings which dated from the 1920s, 1930s and 1980s were demolished when the site was redeveloped in 2012.

Site of the Fleet Photographic Unit which was demolished prior to the construction of the Portsmouth Park and Ride in 2012. 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. The unit was closed in 2003 along with all Royal Naval darkrooms. The western end of the site had been truncated when the M275 was constructed in 1976.

An archaeological building recording was carried out by Southampton Archaeology Unit in July 2012 prior to the demolition of the remaining buildings. This 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. A row of single-storey gabled buildings shown on the 1932 Ordnance Survey map and aerial photographs taken in c1941 and 1953 appeared to represent the other original buildings which had formed the site. These were demolished at some point after 1953. The remaining buildings in 2012 consisted of a purpose built Cine Studio, which possibly dated to when the Royal Naval Film Unit was established in 1939, and a film laboratory, store room and boiler house, and film storage unit, all of which dated to when the film unit returned in the 1980s.

Smith, M P, 2012, Archaeological Building Recording at the Fleet Photographic Unit, Tipnor Lane, Portsmouth (Unpublished document). SPM395.