Castlefacts³

Melcombe Block House

Has been described as a Possible Artillery Fort

There are no visible remains

Name	Melcombe Block House
Alternative Names
Historic Country	Dorset
Modern Authority	Dorset
1974 Authority	Dorset
Civil Parish	Weymouth

A fort 45ft square & built of stone, known as the Block House, stood, as near as can be ascertained, opposite the passage leading from St. Mary's - Maiden Street, called Blockhouse Lane. Mentioned in AD1568 & 1617 (Hutchin).

The area is covered by a modern building and roadway. No trace of antiquity was found (F1 JR 12-AUG-54). (PastScape)

{fort} was erected at the then entrance of the town upon the spot now occupied by Charloote Row, it was a square fort built of stone, and called the Block House, there were embrasures for eight guns, although only five were mounted. 10th of Queen Elizabeth the office of gunner (Vibellator) was granted to Richard Smith for life. (Ellis)

Gatehouse Comments

Presumably mainly built by the town of Melcombe (The area north of the harbour was town of Melcombe, with Weymouth being a separate town south of the harbour, until 1571 when they were united as one borough), rather than a royal defence or would be more recorded in royal documents although the royal appointment of the gunner suggests some royal funding. Could be any late medieval date but more probably Elizabethan than earlier. Ellis mentions other 'forts' at the harbour mouth and Grosvenor Place but these are not dated by him and were probably C17.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)

451637

County Historic Environment Record

www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MDO6703&resourceID=1012

OS Map Grid Reference	SY680790
Latitude	50.6106300354004
Longitude	-2.45333003997803
Eastings	368020
Northings	79090