Cawsand Battery
Cawsand Battery , also known as Cawsand Bay Battery or Cawsand Fort , is a former coastal fortification in the county of Cornwall in Great Britain . The former fort, protected as a Grade II cultural monument, is located between the villages of Kingsand and Cawsand, southwest of Plymouth on the Rame Peninsula .
history
As early as 1779, a gun emplacement was built at the site of the later fort to ward off an attempted invasion by a French-Spanish fleet. The coastal fortifications that are preserved today were built between 1860 and 1867. The fortification was part of a fort belt that was built around Plymouth and on the Rame Peninsula from 1860 onwards on the basis of the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Defense of the United Kingdom to protect Plymouth and the Devonport naval base from enemy attacks. The Cawsand Battery, together with Fort Picklecombe to the north, was supposed to prevent enemy ships from entering Cawsand Bay.
During the test firing of the guns, so many window panes are said to have broken in the villages below the fort that the guns were never fired again. The guns quickly became obsolete after the fort was completed, but were not replaced by more modern ones. In 1903 they were finally dismantled, after which the fort was used for military purposes until 1926. The complex then fell into disrepair until it was converted into private apartments in 1974. The former fort is now privately inhabited and cannot be visited.
investment
From the battery built in 1779, only two granite stones on which the cannons were placed have survived. The coastal artillery position , built from 1860 onwards, was built on a roughly 40 m high steep cliff on a trapezoidal floor plan. The complex was surrounded by a wall all around, the cliff fell steeply on three sides, in the northwest the terrain behind the fortress rose steeply. A narrow trench was in front of this land side, which was secured with a bastion and two caponiers for rifle fire. Two more caponiers were on the east side facing the sea and on the south side. On the seaside there was a curtain wall in which the main battery of 9 64 pounder muzzle loading cannons was set up. On the land side was a sideways cavalier who also contained the main powder magazine and on the roof of which four other light guns were placed. The accommodations for the 80-man crew were on the inside of the south wall.
During the renovation from 1974, the curtain wall was converted into apartments, and new houses were built on the ramparts.
Web links
- The National Heritage List for England: Cawsand Battery
- Pastscape: Cawsand Fort
- Victorian Forts: Cawsand Bay Battery (PDF; 3.68 MB),
- No. 2, The Fort - Picture gallery of Fort Cawsand
Individual evidence
- ^ Rame History Group, Cawsand Fort / Battery. (PDF; 545.8 KB) Retrieved March 26, 2013 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 19 ′ 56 ″ N , 4 ° 12 ′ 9 ″ W.