Monument MPM2142 - Linking Wall, Long Curtain

A short linking wall 15.5m long connecting the north-west end of the Long Curtain moat wall [MPM1757] to the Saluting Platform [MPM33]. The wall is shown on Sir Bernard de Gomme's 1688 plans of the remodelled town defences.

Kinked rusticated limestone ashlar wall. Upper part forms a pitched cap that turns about 5.6 m west of the Saluting Platform. Pitched cap appears to be a later modification. Repaired in 2014 following storm damage. Pitched roof reportedly torn off during a storm in 1990 and extensively repaired with new masonry. Modern drainage outlets have been inserted in a similar location to a sluice marked on 19th and early 20th century maps and an outfall marked on later 20th century maps/plans. The wall has been sporadically repointed using a variety of cementitious mortars. [1]

It has been suggested that the linking wall was a caponier that formed part of a passageway connecting Spur Redoubt [MPM37] with the Square Tower [MPM443] via the Saluting Platform and Ten-gun battery [MPM36] [2]. However, no such tunnel was noted during an investigation at the Saluting Platform and no evidence was apparent when a section of the Long Curtain seaward wall was breached in 2014 [1].

<1> Flood, Grace, 2024, Southsea Coastal Defence Scheme Sub Frontage 1, Southsea, Hampshire: Historic Building Record (Unpublished document). SPM662.

<2> Patterson, B.H., 1987, A Military Heritage A History of Portsmouth & Portsea Town Fortifications (Bibliographic reference). SPM43.