Building MPM507 - 8 FRENCH STREET

Also known as: Popinjays Warehouse FRENCH STREET. Also known as: The Mayors Stables FRENCH STREET. Warehouse. Original fabric on ground floor possible late medieval but certainly in existence by late C16 or early C17, upper floors C18 with some patching of c1800. Ground floor north and south elevations of limestone blocks, above red brick in a mixture of English garden wall bond and Flemish bond. Plain tiled roof with half hip to west. 2 storeys. West front has 2 cambered window openings and central hoist with cambered opening. Cambered door to ground floor. INTERIOR has 4-bay queen post roof with inserted ridgepiece and diagonal tension braces. (Post-Medieval Archaeology : Vol 20 : 1986: Fox R & Barton KJ: Excavations at Oyster Street, Portsmouth, Hampshire: 34, 61, 63, 78, F11).

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Excavations in Oyster Street during 1968-1971 revealed this building was originally at least 2m longer at its eastern end, sealing a square stone-lined pit containing late-16th to early-17th century pottery. The dimensions of the structure recorded at the time of the excavations were 16.5m long x 6m wide with a maximum height of 9m. The building was placed in a 17th century context but elements of it's construction suggested possible late-medieval origins.

The east and west ends of the building were rebuilt during the late-17th to late-18th century period. Red brick replaced earlier stone masonry and windows were altered to let in more light.

A brick-built soakaway (F2) was found adjacent to and midway along the south wall of the building. Its fill contained domestic refuse, including pottery dating to c. 1720-1740 and the stem from a wine glass. This feature was dated to a late-17th to late-18th century phase of occupation.

When the Oyster Street excavation report was published in 1986, the building housed Portsmouth City Museums Conservation Department.

[2, p.61, 65, 73]

<1> Historic England, The National Heritage List for England (Index). SPM35.

<2> Fox, R & Barton, K, 1986, Excavations at Oyster Street, Portsmouth, Hampshire, 1968-71 (Bibliographic reference). SPM34.