Description

GODALMING NEW WAY
SU 9643 NE
(west side)
12/182
The Little Fort
- II

Fort, now part of house. 1843 for Anne Oglethorpe and Eleanor Marquise de
Mezieres; altered; added to considerably C20. Bargate rubblestone with dressed
stone quoins; concealed bitumenised roof. A single cell of 2 storeys, square on
plan. South side: quoins; pointed-arched quoined doorway with heavy wood
frame and 4-panel door (panels glazed) with graffiti "GM1827"; above door is
bracketed ledge to former C19 bay window, now replaced by large mid-C20 window;
embattled parapet with pitched coping to merlons and flagpole. On right, mid-
C20 single-storey addition, not of special interest, masks ground floor of right
return which on 1st floor has 2 gun slits with raised surrounds. Left return:
2 rectangular windows to ground floor with plain surrounds, and 2 gun slits
above with raised surrounds. Rear, encased in late C20 addition, has inserted
window and door openings to lower floor, and former pointed-arched doorway to
upper floor made into square-headed doorway mid C20. Extensive late C20
additions to rear of fort and set back on either side are not of special
interest. Originally access to the roof was by rope ladder, from the upper
floor. Anne Oglethorpe and Eleanor Marquise de Mezieres, were sisters of
General James Oglethorpe who owned Westbrook. While Oglethorpe was away in
America, founding the colony of Georgia, Anne lived at Westbrook, with Eleanor a
frequent visitor. The two of them were staunch Jacobite supporters and involved
in various plottings. The Little Fort was one of 2 forts which they built along
a pre-existing vineyard wall (constructed by Oglethorpe) in order to prepare
Westbrook as a stronghold. None of the other forts survive.
D Coombs, The Godalminq 400 (1978), pp 20-22.
C Terrot, "House of Jacobites and Red Indians", Country Life, Dec 1.1960,
pp1348-1349.

Listing NGR: SU9653143832

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26485585

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)