Southwick House
| Southwick House | |
| Hampshire | |
|---|---|
 Southwick House showing the colonnade | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU63290875 |
| Location: | 50°52’29"N, 1°6’7"W |
| History | |
| Built 1800 | |
| Country house | |
| Georgian | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | Ministry of Defence |
Southwick House is a Grade II listed 19th-century manor house of the Southwick Estate in Hampshire, about five miles north of Portsmouth. It is home to the Defence School of Policing and Guarding, and related military police capabilities.
The house is a Grade II listed building.[1] The detached clock tower, a three-stage Italianate structure with a slate roof, is also Grade II listed.[2]
History
Early history
The house was built in 1800 in the late Georgian style, to replace Southwick Park house. The three-storey house is distinct for its two-storey foyer lit from a cupola, and a series of elliptical rooms. A semi-circular portico is centred on the house's colonnade of paired Ionic columns
Second World War
The house became important during Second World War. In 1940, the estate owners allowed the Royal Navy to use the house to accommodate overnight pupils of the Royal Navy School of Navigation, HMS Dryad, which was based in Portsmouth Naval Dockyard. In 1941, after heavy bombing of the dockyard, the house was requisitioned and became the new home of HMS Dryad.[3]
In 1943, with the planning for D-Day already underway, the house was chosen to be the location of the advance or forward command post (Sharpener Camp) of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. Because of this, HMS Dryad was moved out of the house onto further land requisitioned from the estate.[3]
D-day preparation
In 1944, in the months leading up to D-Day, the house became the headquarters of the main allied commanders, including Allied Supreme Commander General Eisenhower, Naval Commander-in-Chief Admiral Ramsay and Army Commander-in-Chief General Montgomery.[4]
The large wall maps that were used on D-Day are still in place in the house in the main map room.[5]
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After HMS Dryad
In 2004 the functions of HMS Dryad were transferred to HMS Collingwood in Fareham and the site reverted to its original name of Southwick Park.[6]
Since 2005 it has been home to the tri-Service Defence School of Policing and Guarding (formerly the Defence College of Policing and Guarding).[7]
Outside links
- High resolution Gigapixel image of the Southwick House D-Day map
- The D-Day Story – information about visiting Southwick House
- O'Connor, Jerome M. "Southwick House – Where D-Day Began". historyarticles.com. http://historyarticles.com/southwick-house/.
- Royal Military Police Museum
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1096247: HMS Dryad (Southwick House) (Grade II listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1096185: Clock Tower at HMS Dryad (Southwick House) (Grade II listing)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "H.M.S. "Dryad"". Hansard. 14 May 1962. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1962/may/14/hms-dryad. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- ↑ Beevor, p. 1.
- ↑ "Wall Map". http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/103188. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
- ↑ "Maritime Warfare School". Royal Navy. http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organisation/where-we-are/training-establishments/hms-collingwood/maritime-warfare-school. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
- ↑ "Family fights homes plan for Southwick Park estate". BBC. 13 September 2016. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-37347042. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- Beevor, Antony: 'D-Day: The Battle for Normandy' (Viking Publications) ISBN 978-0-670-88703-3