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Portsmouth, England Gunwharf Quays Main Gate

On May 17, 1664 issue a warrant to purchase this property for use by the Royal Navy as a gun wharf. A gun wharf was where a ship would offload all of its guns before it went in to dry dock so that the weight of the guns would not destroy the keel when it was no longer supported by water. After ships went to steel hulls, the Gunwharf Quays was converted into a torpedo school called the HMS Vernon. It saw great use in World War I and World War II. It was decommission in 1996 and Berkeley Homes adaptively reused it into a shopping and residential complex. The Main Gate and surviving walls date to the early 1870s and are a Grade II listed building.

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Uploaded on October 15, 2012
Taken on June 27, 2012