Fort belt around Plymouth

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Fort Bovisand (foreground) and Fort Picklecombe in Plymouth Sound

The Fort belt around Plymouth was in the second half of the 19th century by Britain landscaped fortress ring to the strategically important port of Plymouth and the Naval Base Devonport to protect against enemy attacks from land and sea.

history

As early as 1844 a Committee of Harbor Defenses had recommended that three coastal artillery positions be built at Picklecombe , Staddon Point and Eastern King to defend the entrance to the Plymouth Sound . However, the fortifications built in the following years were no longer considered adequate 15 years later. Following the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Defense of the United Kingdom published in 1860, work began on expanding the fortifications of the British war ports because of a suspected French threat. The commission feared an attack by the French fleet, which had the La Gloire , a steam-powered ironclad , which the Royal Navy had nothing to counter. To ward off an attack from the sea, new coastal fortifications and coastal artillery positions were built along the coasts of Plymouth Sound from the 1860s , while a ring of forts should protect the land side of Plymouth. Since the naval base could have been reached by artillery fire from the higher-lying peninsula of Rame, forts were also built on the coasts of Whitsand Bay and other points on the peninsula. The construction of the forts around Plymouth cost the enormous sum of over £ 3,000,000.

Just 20 years later, the fortifications were overtaken by the advancement of artillery. Although it turned out that France had no intentions or plans for an invasion of Great Britain, new coastal artillery positions were created from 1880 and some of the existing fortifications were expanded and equipped with more modern guns. Since these heavy coastal artillery guns were not suitable for defense against fast and small torpedo boats, the fortifications were partially equipped with light rapid-fire guns before the First World War . Nevertheless, the fortifications were already considered obsolete by the time of the First World War, which is why some of them were abandoned before the First World War and the others in the 1920s. Some of them were used as anti-aircraft positions and to repel attacks by light naval forces during the Second World War, before they too were abandoned after the end of the war. Some of the facilities were demolished, some were transferred to civilian use, only a few facilities such as Crownhill Fort or the Garden Battery in Mount Edgcumbe Country Park can be visited.

Breakwater Fort at the entrance to Plymouth Sound

investment

Most of the fortifications were designed by engineer officer Edmund Du Cane . The distinction between the coastal artillery positions and the forts was fluid, so some of the fortifications are referred to as both a battery and a fort . In fact, the artillery positions were usually equipped with trenches and capons and so could have been defended against an infantry attack.

In total, over 20 coastal fortifications and at least 17 land fortifications were built to defend Plymouth in the second half of the 19th century. The fortifications were divided into the following sections:

Outside line of defense

The entrance to Plymouth Sound was covered by Breakwater Fort , Fort Bovisand on the east bank and Fort Picklecombe and Cawsand Battery on the west bank.

The obsolete gun emplacements were replaced by the Penlee Point Battery , Pier Cellars Battery , Hawkins Battery , Rame Church Battery and Maker Battery on the western bank and by Renney Point and Lentney Battery on the eastern bank from the 1880s .

Inner line of defense

A 25 ton front-loading cannon on Drake's Island

Drake's Island , a small island in the middle of Plymouth Sound, was of great strategic importance. Between 1860 and 1900 the island was developed into a fortress. In the 1880s the outdated guns were replaced by more modern ones, and a torpedo system with wire-controlled torpedoes was installed. Only in 1956 did the military use of the island end. The island was in the defense supported by the Garden of Mount Edgcumbe House location Garden Battery and Eastern and Western King's Redoubt and the Watch House Battery on the eastern shore. Eastern and Western Kings Redoubt and the Watch House Battery were modernized in the 1880s and reinforced with Staddon Point Battery , Frobisher Battery and Lord Howard's Battery .

Western Defense

The Rame peninsula, west of Plymouth Sound, was also of great strategic importance because the naval base could have been shot at from the high peninsula across the Hamoaze . Therefore, the forts Tregantle , Scraesdon and Polhawn were built on the peninsula to prevent enemy landings. The outdated fortifications were replaced from 1888 by a new gun battery near Tregantle Fort and by the Whitsand Bay Battery .

Aerial view of Scraesdon Fort

Fort belt in the north

To ward off an enemy land attack from the north, a ring of eleven forts and gun emplacements was built around the northern land side of Plymouth from 1860 to 1872. The fortifications stretched from the Tamar River to the Cattewater , specifically Emesettle Battery , Agaton Fort , Knowles Battery , Woodland Fort , Crownhill Fort , Bowden Fort , Eggbuckland Keep , Ford Battery , Austin Fort , Efford Fort and Laira Battery .

An originally planned ring of six more forts in the west of the city was never started.

Fort belt in the east

The two forts Staddon and Stamfort were built to defend the east . The Staddon Fort, built on Staddon Heights , was connected to the coastal fortifications on the east bank of Plymouth Sound with trenches and roads.

list

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History: Palmerston's Forts and Batteries. Archived from the original on December 31, 2008 ; Retrieved April 2, 2013 .
  2. ^ Crownhill Fort. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 31, 2004 ; accessed on March 30, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.crownhillfort.co.uk
  3. ^ History of Plymouth: Plymouth People. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 23, 2012 ; Retrieved March 26, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / historyofplymouth.co.uk
  4. ↑ Victorian Forts and Artillery - List of Royal Commission Forts. Accessed March 26, 2013 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 22 ′ 19 ″  N , 4 ° 8 ′ 10 ″  W.