WORLD WAR II ANTI-TANK DEFENCES AT EASTNEY BEACH

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1393720
Date first listed:: 23-Mar-2010
List Entry Name:: WORLD WAR II ANTI-TANK DEFENCES AT EASTNEY BEACH
Statutory Address:: WORLD WAR II ANTI-TANK DEFENCES AT EASTNEY BEACH

User submitted image — Uploaded by Steve Trow This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1393720
Date first listed:: 23-Mar-2010
List Entry Name:: WORLD WAR II ANTI-TANK DEFENCES AT EASTNEY BEACH
Statutory Address 1:: WORLD WAR II ANTI-TANK DEFENCES AT EASTNEY BEACH

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: WORLD WAR II ANTI-TANK DEFENCES AT EASTNEY BEACH

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: City of Portsmouth (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: SZ 67753 98935

Reasons for Designation

The line of World War II anti-tank concrete cubes at Eastney beach is recommended for designation at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * As a significant group exhibiting different forms of construction for anti-tank cubes; * As a form of coastal defence with a clear relationship with Portsmouth's earlier, designated Fort defences; * As an approximately 400m stretch of good condition, early (summer 1940) anti-tank defences of special historic interest.

Details

774-1/0/10049 EASTNEY 23-MAR-10 World War II anti-tank defences at Eas tney beach

II 1940 anti-tank obstacles at Eastney beach consisting of a series of over 280 concrete cubes.

MATERIALS: Concrete with a local sand and shingle aggregate.

DESCRIPTION: The cubes are approximately 1m square and continue in line for over 400m from Eastney Fort East in the west to Fort Cumberland in the east (both Scheduled Ancient Monuments). The different layers of cement tipping are visible on many of them.

The cubes show evidence of two different forms of shuttering used for their construction; some show evidence of wooden board shuttering whilst others exhibit texturing caused by corrugated iron shuttering. Some of the cubes have metal fittings and exhibit evidence of paint (though it is currently not possible to determine if this paint is original).

The cubes at the far western end show evidence of being constructed on a continuous plinth. It is not possible at this time to determine if this is true for all the blocks in this group as a number have been buried under an earth bank. As well as this a number of the gaps between the cubes at this point have later been filled in with breeze blocks, it is not felt that this was part of the original design and therefore does not have the same significance as the blocks themselves. The blocks to the eastern end of the line have undergone more erosion than those to the west and have suffered some displacement though they are still clearly part of the continuous line of defence and as such are included within the listing.

HISTORY: Portsmouth is the only British city which is on an island site. This fact meant that from the C15 it was recognised as an important naval position. From this time onwards the port of Portsmouth has been afforded protection through the introduction of varying forms of defences. Since Napoleonic to more recent times Portsmouth has acted as a naval base and an important garrison town. Fort Cumberland and Eastney Fort East (both Scheduled Ancient Monuments) were part of the C19 development of Portsmouth's defences. It is the vulnerable stretch of foreshore between these two defensive structures, that the anti-tank cubes were constructed to protect. These anti-tank obstacles date to the earliest period of the building of such defences during the Second World War, in the summer of 1940.

REASON FOR DESIGNATION: The line of Second World War anti-tank concrete cubes at Eastney beach is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * As a sigificant group exhibiting different forms of construction for anti-tank cubes; * As a form of coastal defence with a clear relationship with Portsmouth's earlier, designated Fort defences; * As an approximately 400m stretch of good condition, early (summer 1940) anti-tank defences of special historic interest.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 507478
Legacy System:: LBS

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.