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Along
the footpath which runs at the base of Portsdown (behind the
Paulsgrove housing estate), just to the West of Fort Southwick is a
concrete structure that has proved very difficult to identify. It was
eventually recognised as a sewage holding tank (cesspit or midden) for Fort
Southwick, built in the 1900s to replace the not very successful Victorian
original - see Fort
Widley Midden. The
are reports that it was re-used as a Mortar Battery during the early part of
WWII, as protection against the expected German invasion. It housed a big
4 inch mortar which could be cranked up into the firing position thus
giving the operators some extra degree of cover. It was intended to
protect the northern part of Portsmouth Harbour and the A27 Portsmouth to
Southampton road, and was probably manned by the Home Guard or the Royal
Marines. The site is now overgrown and derelict.
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