Crownhill Fort: Difference between revisions

'''Crownhill Fort''' is a [[Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom|Royal Commission]] [[Fort]] built in the 1860s in [[Crownhill]] as part of [[Lord Palmerston]]'s ring of land defences for [[Plymouth]]. Restored by the [[Landmark Trust]], it is now home to several small businesses, amuseums, wedding and events venueexhibitions and a holiday apartment sleeping up to eight people. The Fort is open to the public on the last Friday of each month and hosts tours for local schools and societies at other times.

Construction began in April 1863, with Crownhill Fort being at the cutting edge of fortress design, although it does conform to the standard polygonal design of its contemporaries. It was built 400 metres in front of the defensive line, now incorporated in tointo the east-west Crownhill Road, in an exposed position on a natural limestone outcrop. Crownhill Fort is designed for all round defence, with each of its seven sides having massive ramparts and being surrounded by a deep ditch. All sides were also protected by gunfire, with the fort having around 350 built-in rifle loopholes. It was designed for an armament of 32 guns on the ramparts and 6 [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]]s sited in two mortar pits to the south west and north west of the Parade Ground. A year later, in 1864, [[Russia]]n commander [[Eduard Totleben|General Todleben]] was shown the building works, and he complimented them.

Due to continual advancement in weaponry and warfare many [[Victorian era|Victorian]] [[Forts]]forts were abandoned by the army. Crownhill Fort remained an [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|MOD]] site until 1986 and was instead used by many different [[infantry]] regiments as HQ Plymouth Garrison.

The last time Crownhill Fort was actively used in a military situationarmed was during the [[Second World War]], when [[anti-aircraft guns]] were positioned in the fort. Following the war, in the 1950s, it had a Gun Operations Room built on the parade ground, incorporating part of the Officers barrack. It then continued as a home for the 59 Independent Commando Squadron Royal Engineers until 1983, despatching 647 troops and 1,897 tonnes of war material during the [[Falklands War]]. The fort was purchased 3 years later by the [[Landmark Trust]] who have restored Crownhill Fort to beas the best preserved example of Palmerston's forts. In completing this task, Landmark Trust have received much assistance from grant aid courtesy of the [[European Committee]], [[English Heritage]] and the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]].

===The Ditchditch===

The fort is surrounded by a dry ditch, defendedhewn from the bedrock and flanked by [[caponier]]s, which is hewn from solid rock. 200 000 tonnes of material had to be moved to create the ditch, which is 30 ft deep and 30 ft wide [https://web.archive.org/web/19991003184652/http://home.clara.net/sjtammadge/crwnhll.html].

===The Caponierscaponiers===

Crownhill Fort has six three-storey caponiers[[caponier]]s. The first floor was for infantrymen, the second was for gun casements each housing Smooth-Bore Breech-Loading guns and the third connects with the ''Chemin de Ronde'', the parapeted walkway circling the fort. The north caponier is a full caponier because it points in two directions. The other five caponiers are demi-caponiers because they face in one direction only.

Crownhill Fort is famous for its collection of artillery. The [[cannon]] are maintained in working order and are fired on event days to recreate the sounds and atmosphere of a working fortress. In total, the fort has emplacements for 3217 guns on its ramparts (including 5 [[François Nicolas Benoît, Baron Haxo|Haxo]] casements and 2 [[Disappearing gun|Moncrieff]] pits) and 15 in its caponiers. Some of the guns that can be found at Crownhill Fort include:

* a '''replica [[Disappearing gun|Moncrieff Counterweight Disappearing Gun]]''', one of only two working examples – the carriage uses a unique counterweight system to rise above the parapet to fire and then descend in a controlled manner, powered by the recoil.

* two '''13-inch [[Mortar (weapon)|Mortars]]''', on loan from the [[Royal Armouries]], which were designed to fire 200-pound explosive shells. It is believed that they were used in the [[Crimean War]], against [[Russia]]

* two [[SBBL 32-pound pounder|32 Pounder smooth-bore]] [[Breech-loading weapon|breech-loading]] guns from the 1880s, designed to fire [[case shot]]

* four replica 32-poundpounder smooth-bore [[Breech-loading weapon|breech-loading]] guns dating from 1997

* two '''replica [[RBL 7 inch Armstrong gun|Armstrong 7-inch rifled breechloaders]]'''. These guns were first issued to the Navy in 1858, but were found to be not powerful enough, and so were sent instead to be mounted on the ramparts of land fortifications, such as Crownhill Fort.

* two muzzle-loading 32-poundpounder cannonguns, which were rescued from [[Tregantle Fort]] in [[Cornwall]], where they were being used as gatepostsbollards.

==The Fort Todaytoday==

*In2014 2011saw workthe end of a three-year beganproject to clear self -seeded saplings on the [[counterscarp]] walls. This three year project has seen logging horses employed to allow the timber to be extracted and processed.

*In 2012 work startedWork to reinstateclear the Victorian Storm Drains to help alleviate flooding on the lower decks of the structure was completed in 2017.

*[httphttps://www.crownhillfortlandmarktrust.coorg.uk/crownhill-fort/ Crownhill Fort official pages on Landmark Trust site]

[[Category:VisitorTourist attractions in Devon]]

[[Category:BuildingsPalmerston and structures in DevonForts]]

[[Category:Forts of Plymouth, Devon]]