Building MPM536 - VULCAN BLOCK (BUILDING NUMBER 21) AND ATTACHED BOLLARDS

Former ordnance storehouse with stabling, built 1811-1814, with later alterations. Late Georgian style. Armaments and Ordnance stores were kept here while ships were in Ordinary at Portsmouth dockyard. The old Gun Wharf Yard was extended to New Gun Wharf in the 1770s, of which this forms the centrepiece. As such it is part of the very significant historic dockyard complex. It was also, at its completion, one of the largest storehouses owned by the Board of Ordnance after that at Chatham. This patterned brick work is found at other local Ordnance Board buildings of the time such as Priddy's Hard and Milldam Barracks. [1]

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Originally a large storehouse located in New Gunwharf, the building has been known as the Grand Store House and the Land Services Store, later being renamed Vulcan. The building originally had a northern, southern and central wing forming a 'U' shape, but the northern wing was demolished in 1941.

Many wooden features including windows, doors and floors were refurbished during renovation work in c1999. A number of features and artefacts were also revealed during the work and recorded as part of an archaeological watching brief (see details below), including sections of the brick and stone foundations of the building which were uncovered in the central wing.

A brick lined shaft was revealed during underpinning works in the passageway in the central wing. The function of the shaft is not known, but it would have formed part of the original building. At its lowest point the brick base extended 2.27m below the floor surface and would have been below the water table when it was constructed. Within the shaft was a layer made up of over 8000 gunflints. The gunflints were of types used during the 18th and 19th centuries. They would have been dumped in the shaft when it fell out of use, probably by c1860. Fragments of glass bottles c. early-19th century in date were also recovered.

A cobbled surface which had survived as a pavement along the length of the walls of the central passageway was recorded and removed together with 18th century cannons which had been used as bollards.

A number of artefacts were recovered from a room in the northern half of the central wing. These mainly related to 1950s diving equipment and included a neoprene mitten, water activated batteries and tools used for the maintenance of the eqipment. Glass milk bottles, plastic yoghurt pots and Navy issue cigarette packets were also recovered.

At the western end of the southern wing a large tank accessed by two iron manholes was revealed beneath a concrete floor. The tank comprised two brick built chambers full of water. Over 2000 artefacts were recovered from the silt which lined the tanks. These included leather scabbards, knives, buckets and and artillery shells. The tanks are thought to have originally been used to store fresh water collected from around the site to supply pumps in the courtyard. The addition of sumps and inlets at a later date suggests the tanks were drained and put to another use, possibly as a workshop, store or dump.

[2, 3]

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

<2> Gifford and Partners, 2000, Gunwharf Quays Portsmouth Results of the Archaeological Watching Brief (Unpublished document). SPM550.

<3> Gifford and Partners, 1999, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth: Vulcan Building Watching Brief (Unpublished document). SPM549.