Fort Monckton: The Former Officers' Mess

Summary

Former Officers’ Mess, built in about the early C19 with early C20 additions.

Reasons for Designation

The Former Officers’ Mess, built in about the early C19 as part of the bastioned artillery fort of Fort Monckton, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* As a surviving early C19 barracks building, recorded as a ‘Recreation Room’ in 1892 and as the ‘Officers’ Mess’ in 1919, from a period when permanent barracks were relatively rare;
* A later component of an artillery fort at the forefront of British military architecture;

Historic interest:

* A barracks building added to an artillery fort built following invasion concerns in the late C18, which continued to form a major part of Portsmouth’s defences in the earlier C19 before being used as a base for experimental development of sea mines and electric lighting;

Group value:

* As part of the scheduled artillery fort, and for group value with the Former Central Magazine, which is listed at Grade II*.

History

The Former Officers’ Mess is situated on the parade ground at Fort Monckton; a bastioned artillery fort built between 1781 and 1790 to defend the western approaches to Portsmouth Harbour. It is one of two early surviving buildings on the parade ground yard; the other is the Former Central Magazine. The site is a scheduled monument (National Heritage List for England 1001844) and that record should be consulted for a history and description of the fort. Fort Monckton originally held a substantial armament but from the 1860s the fort was mainly used as barracks and workshops. It was occupied by the Royal Engineers from 1878.

Historic plans of 1858, 1888 and 1892 show a rectangular building situated at the south end of the parade ground; it is marked as a ‘Recreation Room’ on the 1892 plan. In about the early C20 the building was extended to the north to form a cruciform plan, with further small additions to the north and north-west; it is shown as such on a 1919 plan by which time it had reached its current extent (2017). The building is labelled on this plan as the ‘Officers’ Mess’ and contained: a gymnasium and games room and a reading and writing room within the early C19 range at the south; and an ante room, dining room, bar, kitchen and lavatories within the early C20 range, as well as staff quarters with a staff dining room, office, bedroom and living room.

The south end of the Former Officers’ Mess was rendered in about 2015. The fort continues in MOD use (2017) and there is no permitted public access.

Details

Former Officers’ Mess, built in about the early C19 with early C20 additions.

MATERIALS: Red brick laid in Flemish bond and stone dressings, partly rendered.

PLAN: an early C19 rectangular single-storey range adjoined at the north by an early C20 T-shaped single-storey range, together forming a cruciform plan. A lean-to and flat-roofed toilet block is attached at the west, a lean-to porch adjoins to the east, and a small gabled addition extends to the north.

EXTERIOR: the early C19 building is orientated north-south. It comprises a rendered gabled range, two bays wide and four bays long, adjoined by a lower red brick gabled range which is three bays long, now built into the cross-wing of the early C20 building. The rendered south range has a plinth, angle pilasters and six-over-six round-headed horned sash windows. A round-headed doorway with a transom light is set into the first bay of the east elevation. There is a gabled slate roof with stone copings and a chimney stack with a clay chimney pot at the apex of the south wall. The lower adjoining range is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond and has round-headed sash windows with gauged brick arches and a slate roof. The west elevation comprises two round-headed sashes and the adjoining flat-roofed early C20 toilet block. At the east is the main doorway, set under a lean-to porch at the south-east angle with the adjoining cross-wing.

The early C20 range is an irregular composition attached to the north of the earlier building. It is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond to a T-shaped plan, comprising a gabled cross-wing and gabled north wing. There are slate roofs, brick copings to the gables and corbelled red brick chimney stacks with clay chimney pots.

The cross wing is three bays wide with three round-headed sashes in the east elevation and a single round-headed sash at the west. There is a single-storey red brick toilet block with a flat roof set into the south-west angle with the earlier range. It is blank, without openings, except for a square-headed doorway containing a timber door with a door light. The north wing is six bays long and four bays wide with round-headed and square-headed sash windows. A slate-covered lean-to extends from the west wall and comprises two bays of square-headed sashes. At the north is a small gabled addition with square-headed sashes.

INTERIOR: not inspected.

Sources

Books and journals
Saunders, A D, Fortifications of Portsmouth and the Solent, (1998)
Saunders, A D, Fortress Britain, (1989), 126
Moore, D, Solent Papers No.13 - Fort Blockhouse and Fort Monckton, (2014)
Williams, G, The Portsmouth Papers No.30: The Western Defences of Portsmouth Harbour 1400-1800, (1979)

Other
1892 site plan, Historic England Archive, Reference: MD95/06393 and MD95/06394
1919 site plan, Historic England Archive, Reference: MD95/06395

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry