Rare Victorian Battery Steeped In History Goes On The Market In Bembridge

One of the last surviving Victorian Batteries on the Isle of Wight - formerly used to defend the eastern coast of the Island - has gone onto the property market.

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Steeped in history, the unique Steyne Wood Battery in Bembridge, is classed as a scheduled monument and was built by the Ministry of Defence between 1889 and 1894 to defend the Island and Portsmouth Harbour.

The battery was bought from the Ministry of Defence by Sir John I Thornycroft in 1909 and has remained in the same family ever since. It even includes underground ammunition stores, gun emplacements and the original earthworks.

Three of the original buildings: The Guard House, Shell Store and Forge are now self-contained cottages.

They are in addition to the principal residence with a separate annex, a swimming pool and an old lawn tennis court all added after 1909.The whole complex lies next to Culver Down and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It includes around 18 acres of ground on the outskirts of Bembridge and is surrounded by woodland.

Also in the site is the Grade II Listed boat testing facility built by John I Thornycroft, who was the founder of the British shipbuilding firm Thornycroft & Co.

The main six-bedroom residence is approached via a long driveway that passes well beyond the Guard House and has been sensitively updated and provides everything needed for 21st century living with plenty of flexible accommodation.

The annexe was built soon after the completion of the main house and was originally the nursery wing under the auspices of ‘Nanny.’ It is a well-designed detached property that would be ideal for additional family members.

Originally the shell store for the battery, Shell Cottage is another fascinating property on the complex, along with Forge Cottage, with its unusual front door and porch and multi-pane sash windows it is full of character and has also been converted into living accommodation.

Designed by the engineering firm L G Mouchel and built in 1910 for testing the resistance of model boats is the Grade II listed Experimental Boat Test Tank Facility. Here, Sir John I Thornycroft and his daughter Blanche (the first woman to be accepted into the Institute of Naval Architects) perfected boat hull designs of national significance, both naval and civil. The tank is one of the first buildings to be constructed using reinforced poured concrete, there are very few buildings of this specification surviving in England.

Most of the grounds are lawns interspersed with mature trees and woodland, while there is also a large swimming pool and a lawn tennis court.

The nearby Bembridge Down is home to an unrestored Victorian Bembridge Fort, which was built around the same time as Steyne Wood Battery and would have housed the main garrison of soldiers assigned to man the battery.

The Guard House - a Victorian building constructed as an original part of battery to house the guards and incarcerate prisoners - is under separate ownership but included within the estate.

Agents, Fine & Country, said the price is available on request.

More details can be found here - https://www.fineandcountry.com/uk/property-for-sale/bembridge/po35-5pg/2446367