Which wall?

Readers may be confused by the photograph of Southdown View, London Road, which is next to the letter about The Great wall of Hilsea (March 18).

The wall referred to is actually the original brick wall which separated the Royal Army Ordnance Corps Barracks from the London

The site does have an interesting but unpublicised history

JANE SMITH

Road.

The barracks occupied a triangular area of land between Hilsea and Copnor.

The wall on the Hilsea side stretched from the junction of Old London Road with London Road along to Gatcombe Drive opposite Doyle Avenue.

The barracks were closed in

1962, demolished in 1965, and the Gatcombe Park Housing estate built in its place.

At the time, two original buildings

were also left on the site, the sergeants’ mess, known as the Bert Mitchell Centre and used by the local Scout troop, and the Riding Centre which became the Hilsea store used by the City Museum.

The metal gates in the wall were also left in place (See The book of Hilsea, page 135).

Gatcombe House, the former officers’ mess, faced the Copnor side and was also left at the time. This eventually became the head office of Warings Contractors Ltd, and the former garden became Gatcombe Gardens and run as a park by Portsmouth City Council.

The site does have an interesting but unpublicised history.

However, its large area and odd shape suffers from the split between Hilsea and Copnor. In any case, almost 60 years on, who remembers the RAOC

Barracks?