Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Former boarding school, convalescent home, sanitorium, retirement home and Royal Marines HQ, Portal House, St Margaret's at Cliffe

Monument Types

• BOARDING SCHOOL (Post Medieval - 1834 AD to 1881 AD)
• CONVALESCENT HOME (Post Medieval to Modern - 1882 AD to 1909 AD)
• BILLET (Modern - 1914 AD to 1918 AD)
• SANATORIUM (Modern to Unknown - 1920 AD)
• REGIMENTAL HEADQUARTERS (Modern - 1940 AD? to 1945 AD?)

Full description

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Portal House was taken over by the Royal Marines Siege Regiment as a headquarters during the Second World War. It is not known whether any physical changes were made to the building during the war.(1)

A photographic survey and historical review of the building was carried out by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust in March 2016 ahead of and during partial demolition and alteration of the building.

Portal House existed on this site since 1792 although it is unlikely that any part of this orignal structure survives as the building has been much modified. In 1834 the building was converted into a boarding school for girls by James Temple. Marine House Boarding School closed some time shortly after 1881. In 1882 the building was purchased to be a seaside convalescent home for London working men. It was named Morley House in honour of the Nottingham MP and philanthropist, Samuel Morley. It initially ‘contained accommodation for 24 patients. The home thrived and was expanded in c.1887 and provided with grounds. A new wing was added in 1895 and another in 1897. This seems to have replaced all of Marine House.

During the Boer War Morley House took invalided soldiers. The home became a limited company in 1904/5 but closed in 1909. During the First World War troops concentrated at St Margaret's were mainly billeted in the house.

In 1920 the house became a sanatorium and was renamed Portal House after the founder of the National Deposit Friendly Society who ran the house.

During the Second World War, Portal House provided headquarters for the Royal Marines Siege Regiment, who helped rebuild the bomb-damaged St Margaret’s churchyard wall.36 ‘After the War, in 1957, Kent County Council purchased the buildings and land for £12,000 and after carrying out substantial refurbishment at a cost of £34,000 re-opened it as a home for the elderly.’37 It would remain in such use until its closure in 1975. Proposals to convert it into flats for the homeless
caused general consternation, but in 1977 it reopened as a ‘special school.’

<1> John A. Guy, 2013, Verbal communication from John Guy, defence expert working in the Dover area (Verbal communication). SKE24831.

<2> Dover Archaeological Group, 2015, Fan Hole deep Shelter and Sound Mirrors, St Margaret's at Cliffe, Dover. Watching Brief (Unpublished document). SKE31707.

Sources and further reading