Palmerston's Follies

Whether out on a boat in Plymouth Sound, walking the coastal path around Mount Edgcumbe or driving along the A38, you're not too far away from one of Palmerston's Follies, but what exactly are they & what were their purpose?

Picklecombe Fort on the Western Approach of Plymouth Sound

A ring of Victorian era defences surround Plymouth in the form of impressive looking forts & gun batteries, with some sites being remodelled from earlier Napoleonic fortifications. Those built within the era of the Prime Minister at the time, Lord Palmerston, came about after fears of a French invasion as reported in the 1860 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom. Lord Palmerston championed the idea of strengthening coastal defences & harbours around the UK. It was a costly exercise - the greatest ever spent on building fixed defences during peacetime, & by the time of completion, advances in gun technology had rendered the forts out of date. Hence they became known as Palmerston's Follies.

Tregantle Fort - Still in active military use as a firing range

The Plymouth Defences were built with intention of defending the threat of a Naval assault by the French on Plymouth Dockyard. Any modern visitor to Plymouth via sea will often ask the question of what structures they are seeing as they enter Plymouth Sound. Picklecombe Forts lush apartment conversion greets visitors as they reach the Breakwater, where once inside, the impressive dark & daunting look of Breakwater Sea Fort & the mighty combined fortifications of Bovisand & Staddon Battery at Staddon Heights can be seen at their best. Further inland, Stamford & Staddon Forts complete the south-eastern side Reaching Drake's Island, Palmerston era additions can be seen in the form of an arc of stone casemates with protective iron shields that housed twenty-one 9 inch guns.

Breakwater Fort

Fort Bovisand & the earlier Staddon Heights Battery

Drake's Island Casemates

Plymouth's Northern Defences stretch from Efford Fort all the way to Ernesettle Battery overlooking the Tamar. Sandwiched roughly in the middle is Plymouth's best preserved Palmerston, Crownhill Fort which is now utilised by businesses & wedding venue with occasional open days to the public. All of the Northern Defences are occupied with businesses or Plymouth City Council in-situ with the exception of Ernesettle Battery which is MOD, & Agaton which is a VOSA Test Station.

Efford Fort to the left overlooking the North Eastern Approaches

Cannons in-situ at Crownhill Fort

Murder Hole Ditch at Efford Fort being reclaimed by nature

Agaton Fort Gatehouse - No Access

On the Cornish side around the Rame Peninsula, coastal gun batteries & forts snake the coastline from Garden Battery at Mount Edgcumbe to Scraesdon Fort at Antony & although some were lost to demolition in the 1970's, there has been excellent works to preserve their status from current tenants who look after the structures including the Rame Conservation Trust, Mount Edgcumbe Estate, Defence Estates, Ministry of Defence & all the owners of converted sites such as Cawsand, Picklecombe & Polhawn Forts & Whitsand Bay Battery which is now a holiday park.

Scraesdon Fort from above

The grand stone entrance to Tregantle Fort

Flooded moat at Scraesdon Fort

A handful of forts have suffered vandalism & theft in recent years including Bovisand & Drake's Island, which had renovation & refurbishment projects put on hold due to the recessions, but recent rumblings on the grapevine are positive & look good for the future. One things for sure If we won the lottery jackpot, we would certainly offer to buy it straight from the owner & reopen it to the People of Plymouth....a name? ooooh maybe Cultural Adventure & Heritage Centre of Plymouth....or is it forward thinking enough for the Plymouth vision of a modern city?......school trips, tourism, local produce brought to the island by boat, open days, jobs with old trade skills brought into much needed use....must...stop....dreaming! Oh & did you know that Drake's Island is actually the cap of an extinct volcano? Awesome history that Plymouth has don't you agree?

Thankfully some of the forts have been much better cared for & the conversions to apartments & holiday homes at Cawsand & Picklecombe Forts are stunning. Okay, so they may be a little out of our price range & we can't even afford a second home but we still appreciate their history & the imposing look these structures have. Polhawn Fort is now primarily a wedding venue, a place we considered for our own wedding, & in our opinion this has to be one of the best wedding venues in the South West. The time, money & priceless effort that has gone into the restoration of the fort is phenomenal & we will feature this in a forthcoming series on the blog.

Inside one of the immaculate bedrooms - Polhawn Fort

TV replaces the cannon - note the original racer rail for the cannon

One of my favourite spiral staircases - stunning workmanship

Over a series of blog posts, we will take a look at each site in detail, including the demolished gun batteries around Plymouth & the surrounding area. A strong focus point of our research will be to build a history of Military Units & stories from personnel who have their own memories of a particular site & we welcome any information of historic value. Graffiti from years back adorn many of the forts with units such as the Royal Marines, Royal Engineers, The Parachute Regiment & even the SAS. Feel free to get in touch if you recognise any of the graffiti featured in the forthcoming gallery - info@hiddenplymouth.co.uk

1939 graffiti from a Commando veteran

Until next time....another spiral staircase in a Plymouth Fort - we're off to see what's down there