Balaclava Cottages
Balaclava Cottages were a small row of cottages overlooking Balaclava Bay in the north-east region of the island. They were built in the 1850s to house a select few of the workers involved in the construction of Portland Breakwater and their families. The cottages became the Balaclava Coastguard Station from 1867 and served as married quarters for the police of Portland Dockyard from 1910. They were demolished in c. 1950 and the site is now occupied by Portland Shellfish Ltd, one of the tenants of Portland Port Ltd.
History
The cottages overlooking Balaclava Bay were built in the 1850s to house a select few of the workers involved in the construction of Portland Breakwater and their families. The Portland Breakwater Act was approved by the British government in 1847 for the construction of two breakwaters to create a harbour a refuge at Portland. In 1850, the original contractor for the works was succeeded by John Towlerton Leather and he had the Breakwater Cottages, as they were originally known, erected just to the south of Portland Nore, from where the breakwaters were built from. The cottages were originally made up of eight dwellings and the 1861 census lists them as being occupied by two railway labourers, two carpenters, an excavator, a horse keeper, an engine fitter and a civil engineer. These eight men and their respective families, along with a servant for the civil engineer, amounted to 33 people living in the cottages.
Leather's contract expired in 1866 and, with the breakwaters virtually complete, all of the buildings at Portland Nore, which were used in connection with the works, and the Breakwater Cottages, were vested in the Admiralty. They found new uses for these buildings and the cottages, which were appropriately positioned overlooking the new harbour and its breakwaters, were utilised as a coastguard station for six men and their families from 1867. At the time of its establishment, the coastguard station was the third on the island, with the other two being at Reforne and Fortuneswell. The Balaclava Station was responsible for the harbour, Castletown and East Weare regions, and the station's boat house was located on the beach of Balaclava Bay. In 1876, convict labour from Portland Prison was used to carry out repairs to the cottages. The cottage on the seaward end was also demolished and replaced with a detached dwelling constructed behind the other cottages.
Following a review of the country's coastguard stations, Balaclava was deemed "unnecessary" and closed in May 1910, leaving its duties to be allocated to the station in Fortuneswell. Two of the men from Balaclava were relocated to Fortuneswell and the remaining four went to stations elsewhere in the Southern District. The cottages then became additional quarters for the Metropolitan Police responsible for Portland Dockyard. At the time, six more police were required there after the Admiralty decided to introduce a gate and search house at the top of the Admiralty Incline. The main police quarters were in a building on the opposite side of the incline and the Balaclava Cottages were utilised as married quarters. The Metropolitan Police at Portland were replaced by the Royal Marine Police in 1930 and new quarters were constructed later that decade on the opposite side of Incline Road. The Royal Marine Police were superseded by the formation of the Admiralty Constabulary in 1949.
In c. 1950, the Balaclava Cottages, now surplus to requirements, were demolished to make way for South Block, an annex for the nearby HM Underwater Detection Establishment. This building remained until its demolition during 2005-06, approximately a decade after Portland Port Ltd became the new owners of the harbour and former naval base. The site of Balaclava Cottages is now occupied by two industrial units which were erected for one of the port's tenants, Portland Shellfish Limited, in 2007-08 and c. 2017. There are some remains of the detached cottage of 1876 date including a fireplace.
References
The following is an A-Z list of references for this page.
1) Admiralty maps of Portland, including 1907, 1910 and 1933
2) Dorset Council - Planning Application: 06/00314/FUL - 23 June 2006 - website page
3) Dorset Council - Planning Application: WP/17/00193/FUL - 20 April 2017 - website page
4) OPC Dorset - Portland 1861 Census (District 3) - website page
5) OPC Dorset - Portland 1871 Census (Chisel and Castleton) - website page
6) OPC Dorset - Portland 1881 Census (C) - website page
7) Ordnance Survey - various maps, including 1891, 1903, 1929, 1960 and 1975
8) Reports of the directors of convict prisons on discipline and management for the year 1876 - Portland Prison: Extracts from the governor's report
9) Seek & Strike: Sonar, Anti-Submarine Warfare and the Royal Navy 1914-54 - Willem Hackmann - Stationery Office Books - 1984 - ISBN: 978-0112904236 - book
10) The British Newspaper Archive - various contemporary newspaper articles including in the Southen Times - website page
History
The cottages overlooking Balaclava Bay were built in the 1850s to house a select few of the workers involved in the construction of Portland Breakwater and their families. The Portland Breakwater Act was approved by the British government in 1847 for the construction of two breakwaters to create a harbour a refuge at Portland. In 1850, the original contractor for the works was succeeded by John Towlerton Leather and he had the Breakwater Cottages, as they were originally known, erected just to the south of Portland Nore, from where the breakwaters were built from. The cottages were originally made up of eight dwellings and the 1861 census lists them as being occupied by two railway labourers, two carpenters, an excavator, a horse keeper, an engine fitter and a civil engineer. These eight men and their respective families, along with a servant for the civil engineer, amounted to 33 people living in the cottages.
Leather's contract expired in 1866 and, with the breakwaters virtually complete, all of the buildings at Portland Nore, which were used in connection with the works, and the Breakwater Cottages, were vested in the Admiralty. They found new uses for these buildings and the cottages, which were appropriately positioned overlooking the new harbour and its breakwaters, were utilised as a coastguard station for six men and their families from 1867. At the time of its establishment, the coastguard station was the third on the island, with the other two being at Reforne and Fortuneswell. The Balaclava Station was responsible for the harbour, Castletown and East Weare regions, and the station's boat house was located on the beach of Balaclava Bay. In 1876, convict labour from Portland Prison was used to carry out repairs to the cottages. The cottage on the seaward end was also demolished and replaced with a detached dwelling constructed behind the other cottages.
Following a review of the country's coastguard stations, Balaclava was deemed "unnecessary" and closed in May 1910, leaving its duties to be allocated to the station in Fortuneswell. Two of the men from Balaclava were relocated to Fortuneswell and the remaining four went to stations elsewhere in the Southern District. The cottages then became additional quarters for the Metropolitan Police responsible for Portland Dockyard. At the time, six more police were required there after the Admiralty decided to introduce a gate and search house at the top of the Admiralty Incline. The main police quarters were in a building on the opposite side of the incline and the Balaclava Cottages were utilised as married quarters. The Metropolitan Police at Portland were replaced by the Royal Marine Police in 1930 and new quarters were constructed later that decade on the opposite side of Incline Road. The Royal Marine Police were superseded by the formation of the Admiralty Constabulary in 1949.
In c. 1950, the Balaclava Cottages, now surplus to requirements, were demolished to make way for South Block, an annex for the nearby HM Underwater Detection Establishment. This building remained until its demolition during 2005-06, approximately a decade after Portland Port Ltd became the new owners of the harbour and former naval base. The site of Balaclava Cottages is now occupied by two industrial units which were erected for one of the port's tenants, Portland Shellfish Limited, in 2007-08 and c. 2017. There are some remains of the detached cottage of 1876 date including a fireplace.
References
The following is an A-Z list of references for this page.
1) Admiralty maps of Portland, including 1907, 1910 and 1933
2) Dorset Council - Planning Application: 06/00314/FUL - 23 June 2006 - website page
3) Dorset Council - Planning Application: WP/17/00193/FUL - 20 April 2017 - website page
4) OPC Dorset - Portland 1861 Census (District 3) - website page
5) OPC Dorset - Portland 1871 Census (Chisel and Castleton) - website page
6) OPC Dorset - Portland 1881 Census (C) - website page
7) Ordnance Survey - various maps, including 1891, 1903, 1929, 1960 and 1975
8) Reports of the directors of convict prisons on discipline and management for the year 1876 - Portland Prison: Extracts from the governor's report
9) Seek & Strike: Sonar, Anti-Submarine Warfare and the Royal Navy 1914-54 - Willem Hackmann - Stationery Office Books - 1984 - ISBN: 978-0112904236 - book
10) The British Newspaper Archive - various contemporary newspaper articles including in the Southen Times - website page
Gallery
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Historical photographs
Modern photographs
1903 OS map
An extract from an Ordnance Survey map of Portland, surveyed in 1901 and published in 1903, showing Balaclava Coastguard Station. (Reused from mapping available at maps.nls.uk under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).