Description

PORTLAND

SY6873 CHISWELL, Chesil
969-1/3/198 (West side)
The Cove House Inn

II

Public house. Early C19 with earlier origins. Large square
dressed Portland stone blocks, slate roofs and stone stacks.
The main central unit extends one bay to the right and one bay
to the left at a lower level.; there are various additions at
the rear, stepped down to a lower access level. Centre block
is in 3 storeys, 2 windows: 4-pane sashes in flush boxes, but
at ground floor are small 12-pane; at centre a lean-to porch
with C20 door. To the left is a 4-pane sash over a broad
recessed mid C20 window and to the right the same. The left
gable includes an early C19 small 9-pane sash in the gable. At
the right hipped end are two 4-pane sashes and, at basement
level, a gabled porch with stone cheeks; there is a further
door in the rear extension. The centre block has gable stacks.

Interior modified in C20; there are substantial dressed stone
walls in the basement, possibly part of an earlier building on
the site.
This is one of the rare survivals from the great storms of
1824 which caused such damage to this part of the Portland
coast. The inn played a prominent part in the saga of
shipwrecks on this part of the coast, particularly in the
infamous Avalanche and Forest disaster of 1877. Watch was kept
from its windows, survivors were taken in and bodies of
victims were taken to the nearby "dead house" by the
landlord's family - Ranter's Lodge (q.v.). Many important
meetings were held here in the C19, including committees for
the relief of suffering for catastrophic storms, for the
establishment of a lifeboat (1870) and for protest against the
practice of catching fish by dynamite charges (which became
national news in 1877).
(Morris S: Information on Cove House: 1991-).

Listing NGR: SY6832773522

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• The Cove House Inn at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q15979553

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

• 
  For the Record
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]