A1 Explore Wembury

Fort Bovisand Arsenal, brought 1873 sketch showing how the guns were transported from Woolwich down by sea and manhandled from the harbour into the casemates. Fort Bovisand The guns fi red through openings, With its commanding position overlooking Plymouth Sound, the area or embrasures, in the one around Bovisand has had a busy military past over the last 500 years. metre thick iron shields set in the There is a wealth of buildings, structures and earthworks which tell of archways of the wembury the efforts to defend this corner of England. casemates. The guns were heavy and cumbersome and had a slow rate of fi re. The loading Staddon Point in the early 20th century Fort Bovisand is the lower building on and fi ring drill took four minutes - this hill and consists of 23 gun rooms, hence the need for 23 guns to provide a called casemates, along with many continuous barrage of fi re. underground corridors and magazines 150-200 artillery men were stationed for storing arms, ammunition and at the Fort. Each of the 23 guns had a Staddon Point Battery explosives. It was built from 1861 detachment of seven men plus a Gun to 1869 from Dartmoor granite and Captain to operate it. The eight men cost £58,000. It is said to be the best Staddon Point is the earliest of the gun slept in the casemate and the repetitive presented casemated battery of the 1859 batteries surviving here, sited higher up daily regime of drills and maintenance Commission in the country and was the hill. It took two years to build (1845- was strict and disciplined. When Fort continually occupied up until 1956. 47) at a cost of £14,000. The building Bovisand was completed, Staddon Point The fort was originally armed with had three tiers Battery was no longer needed as a main 25-ton rifl ed muzzle-loading (RML) with large here, manning twelve 18-pounder guns path from the coastguard cottages, you gun battery and was used instead as guns. They were forged in Woolwich towers at each covering the eastern side of the new cross a footbridge over the ditch. You additional living quarters. end of the lower breakwater. can still see small slits in the walls at the level. There To protect the gun batteries from bottom and the top of the ditch. These were three landward attack, a deep dry ditch was were covered walkways called ‘caponiers’ offi cers and 90 cut up the hillside, past the battery and used by soldiers to defend the ditch with men billeted round to the east. If you follow the coast musket fi re. Changing times Armstrong Quick Firing gun Caponiers in the In the 1890s, new guns were defensive ditch introduced which were quicker to load and fi re. Six Quick Firing (QF) 6-pounder guns were installed on the roof of the Fort and 2 Maxim guns were put in the towers. The 23 old RML guns were removed over the next few years and by 1905 all the casemates During World War I searchlights were empty or adapted to other uses or were installed and additional troops stores. were stationed here due to fears of a Changing use The Fort and submarine attack. A safe harbour The earliest Defence of the Realm In the recommended a huge programme to Staddon Point surviving mid 19th fortify Plymouth with “a ring of fi re”. Battery were decommissioned in 1956 In World War II, the site was much feature here at Bovisand was not a Century, the British government became Bovisand was to be right at the heart of and stood unused for some years. Then busier. 115 personnel were based gun battery but the small harbour, increasingly concerned about the the new plans. in 1970 Fort Bovisand was leased by here and six searchlights scanned the completed in 1824. From here, tenders threat of French naval attack. Military Along with the Breakwater Fort and Fort the MoD to Plymouth Ocean Projects, skies. The last artillery changes came supplied warships anchored offshore technology was advancing rapidly. The Picklecombe on the Cornwall side of the to run training courses for professional in 1942, replacing the QF guns with with fresh drinking water. The water Royal Commission on the Defences of Sound, they formed the seaward defences and amateur divers. Repairs were made, twin 6-pounder guns. They could fi re was piped underground to the harbour services installed and the buildings the United Kingdom, set up in 1859, of the city and royal dockyards. Twin 6 pounder guns with 780 rounds a minute and engage the from a storage reservoir just up the adapted to stores and workshops. shield to protect gun crew enemy motor torpedo boats. They were valley. It is now managed by Discovery Divers. installed on the roof of the casemates. There are more panels about the Staddon Heights defences at the top of the hill and further along the coast path towards Jennycliff. This panel has been produced by the South Devon This panel is part of a series telling the story of the area – Explore Wembury. Panel design by: European Agricultural Panels and trails can be found along the coastal path around the Bay or by Fund for Rural Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Unit. Development: Europe visiting www.southdevonaonb.org.uk. The 630 mile Coast Path is the country’s luke tom.com www.southdevonaonb.org.uk investing in rural areas. longest National Trail and is a great way to explore South Devon AONB. If you would Historic photos like more information on the South West Coast Path visit www.southwestcoastpath.com Find out more about the local history of Wembury - www.wemburyhistory.org.uk www.cyber-heritage.co.uk.

Load more