Mount Wise (Plymouth)
The Mount Wise is a limestone plateau in Stonehouse , a district of Plymouth . The hill is located north of Devil's Point at the mouth of the Tamar in Plymouth Sound . It towers above the entrance to the Devonport naval base and was therefore of great strategic importance. From 1770 onwards, it was used for military purposes for over 200 years. For decades, Government House and the adjacent buildings and bunkers housed important headquarters and command centers for the British Navy. Today the hill is a public park.
Geology and geography
Mount Wise is north of Stonehouse Creek , an arm of the Hamoaze that used to reach far inland . From the cliff there is a wide panorama over the Plymouth Sound, over Devil's Point with the Royal William Victualling Yard and over the Hamoaze on Cremyll and Mount Edgcumbe .
The grassy plateau with some rocks is a Site of Special Scientific Interest . The Devon -Kalkstein from the time of Givetian contains rich fossils inclusions , especially the Mount Wise conch belt , which the Lammaton shell belt in Torquay is similar, and stromatoporoids -Fossilien and accumulations of brachiopods . However, only a few outcrops are visible for viewing and collecting fossils is prohibited, so the site is of more historical interest.
history
Fortifications
A small arsenal gun and a warehouse were set up towards the end of the 17th century shortly after the naval shipyard was founded on Mount Wise, but this facility was already considered too small in 1717, so that from 1720 a new gun arsenal was built closer to the naval shipyard .
From 1757 the Dock Lines were built to ward off attacks from land on the naval base , a line of fortifications made of ramparts and trenches that stretched from Mount Wise in the south to Hamoaze in the north and was expanded several times. In 1770 Mount Wise Redoubt was built on the top of Mount Wise to defend the entrance to Hamoaze. The octagonal redoubt was equipped with 8 32-pounders and two 10-inch mortars. In 1850 three new 10-inch guns were installed. These were replaced in 1885 by 3 64 pounder RML guns, which were finally dismantled again in 1895. In 1806, a signaling station was also built in the redoubt, which was the last link in a chain of 32 optical telegraphy stations between Plymouth and London. The station also served as a signaling station for the ships anchored in Plymouth Sound. The semaphore was replaced by a telegraph in 1852 , which was used until the 1930s. During the Second World War, a barrier balloon was attached to the site of the former redoubt . After the war ended, all buildings on the summit were demolished in the 1960s.
Government or Admiralty House
To the northeast of the Redoubt, Government House was built from 1789 to 1793 as the private residence of the Lieutenant-Governor , the military governor of the Plymouth Garrison. This office was abolished in 1842. The house then served as the headquarters of the West Country Army High Command until it was moved to Salisbury in 1915 . The house fell to the Navy and served as the seat of the port admiral, which is why it was renamed Admiralty House from 1934 . The house had a rich military history and its visitors included Winston Churchill , George V and the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother . In 1996 the military sold the house.
Admiral's or Hamoaze House
Hamoaze House was built next to Admiralty House in 1795 . As Admiral's House, it served as the port admiral's private apartment. After the Port Admiral moved to the neighboring Government House in 1934, the house was renamed Hamoaze House for distinction and served as the headquarters of the Major General of the Royal Marines until 1993 .
Already in 1937 there were considerations to convert the old, still existing fortress moats near Hamoaze House into a bunker. Construction of the bunkers and tunnels began in 1939; during the war, the bunkers served the Plymouth military commanders, the coastal artillery and the air defense operations center as headquarters. After the war, a nuclear bunker was built under Mount Wise . In the 1960s, the bunkers were abandoned and the buildings above ground were demolished.
Mount Wise House
The three-story Mount Wise House , east of Hamoaze House , a magnificent Georgian-style building from 1808 to 1810 , served as the Admiral's office when he lived in the neighboring Hamoaze House.
investment
As early as 1893, Mount Wise Park was opened on the summit , today a park area of around 11 hectares that is open to the public.
Mount Wise Redoubt
The walls of the octagonal redoubt were restored from 1994 to 1999 and are located on the top of the mountain. In 1998, a 40 m high observation mast with a 360 degree rotating viewing platform was built next to the redoubt, from which a panoramic view over the Plymouth Sound and the Hamoaze is offered.
Admiralty, Hamoaze and Mount Wise House
The houses, which were located until the end of the 1990s, were not open to the public for a long time and were strictly shielded from the military. In the late 1990s, the Ministry of Defense sold the Grade II protected properties to private investors. The former command center of the Royal Navy in Plymouth is currently being converted into apartments and is to become the center of a new 28 hectare residential area.
Scott Memorial
South of Hamoaze House is the 11-meter-high monument, erected in 1925 in memory of Devonport-born South Polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott , on which the last words from Scott's diary are engraved.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Plymouth Council: Mount Wise Site of Special Scientific Interest. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 9, 2013 ; Retrieved June 10, 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.
- ^ The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History: Government House, Devonport. Retrieved June 11, 2013 .
- ^ A brief history of Hamoaze House. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 9, 2013 ; Retrieved June 9, 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.
- ^ The National Heritage List for England: Hamoaze House. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 9, 2013 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ The National Heritage List for England: Mount Wise House. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 9, 2013 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Mount Wise Plymouth: Where Georgian elegance meets 21st Century living. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 9, 2013 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Devonport: Scott Memorial. Retrieved June 9, 2013 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 21 '57 .6 " N , 4 ° 10' 24.6" W.