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Summary - not yet available

Protected Status

• Conservation Area: FALMOUTH
• Scheduled Monument 10552: PENDENNIS PENINSULA FORTIFICATIONS

Other References/Statuses

• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SW83SW 4
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 18709.23
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SW83SW 8

Monument Type(s):

• FORT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

The blockhouse on Pendennis Point is thought to pre-date the construction of Pendennis Castle by perhaps a year. It is believed to have originally been a somewhat cruder tower than we see today, more akin to the blockhouses of Dartmouth, particularly Dartmouth Castle and Bayards Cove Castle. The blockhouse may also have been designed and built by Thomas Treffry of Fowey who was responsible for the work at Bayards Cove and later as the 'person in charge' of the construction of St Mawes Castle. The archaeological evidence implies that the blockhouse began life in 1538 with three internally splayed seaward facing gun ports, probably closed by externally hung wooden shutters. Between 1542 and 1544 during the construction of Pendennis Castle, the enfilade of ports was replaced by a single externally splayed embrasure of identical design to those on the first gun floor of the artillery castle and a curved parapet from the same source.

The castles of Pendennis and St Mawes are the only 'Device' castles built on hilly sites. The remainder along the south coast are surrounded by flat land or sea. This presented unique problems for the fortress designers. This inherent weakness may have been addressed by augmenting the forts with strong sea batteries. To achieve this the flanks of the blockhouse seem to have been extended with long masonry curtains on the east and south sides from which heavy guns could command the navigable channels and Falmouth Bay.

The Norden plan of 1600 depicts one gun mounted on the roof of the blockhouse firing through an embrasure, flanked on either side at ground level by open sea batteries. The retired walls of the sea batteries allowed them to be flanked from the blockhouse roof as if by a bastion. This arrangement is repeated in the Grand Sea Battery at St Mawes.

The gun defence of Pendennis Castle was updated in 1627, but these weapons were in a dreadful state by the time they were finally needed in the Civil War. As the Royalist forces consolidated their position in retreat in March 1646, the sea batteries adjacent to the blockhouse received the armament which was to see them through a lengthy siege. The critical lower battery was almost certainly stocked with arms and powder in this period. The blockhouse almost certainly served some function in the lower fort after the
war, either as a magazine, which might explain the blocking to the Henrician port removed by His Majesty's Office of Works in 1928, or even more likely as a 'war shelter' for the gun detachment. During their unpicking of the Henrician fabric, the Office of Works opened up the two earlier inwardly splayed embrasures.

No guns are mentioned by Lilly in connection with the blockhouse, although the adjacent sea batteries bristled with large calibre weapons. Lilly may have considered the building part of the Blockhouse Long Platform, so some form of armament here should not be ruled out.

After the Revolutionary War with France the Packet Service was taken over by the Navy. The blockhouse was then used as a magazine for the storage of powder from the packets. The use of the blockhouse as a magazine continued until 1828 when a new road enabled powder to be taken from the landing at Crab Quay up to the castle magazines.

In 1846 the Commanding Engineer described the 'old blockhouse': 'the walls…appear to be good…the present lead roof…has been partially stolen'. No use is mentioned for the building on the 1866 appropriation table when its sole function seems to be to augment the butts of the volunteer rifle range. Postcards of the time suggest that when the ranges were silent the west glacis was used as a public pleasure ground, the blockhouse providing a backdrop as a romantic ruin.

The first mention of the present name of the blockhouse, Little Dennis, appears in the 1943 Fort Record Book for Falmouth Fire Command (21).

--------------------------------
Site history:
1: 1927. DRAKE, S/IAM
3: 1987. WESTON, SM/IAM
4: 1988. HARTGROVES, S/CAU
5: 1988. HARTGROVES, S/CAU
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<1> Hals, W, 1740, The Compleat History of Cornwall, 129 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3429.

<2> Lilly, C, 1715, An Exact Plan of Pendennis Fort (Bibliographic reference). SCO3870.

<3> Norden, J, 1728, Speculi Britanniae Pars (Bibliographic reference). SCO4001.

<4> Polwhele, R, 1803, History of Cornwall (Bibliographic reference). SCO4140.

<5> Lysons, D & S, 1814, Magna Britannia, VOL III, CORNWALL, 989, 99, 104 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3885.

<6> Hitchins, F & Drew, S (Eds), 1824, The History of Cornwall (Bibliographic reference). SCO3595.

<7> TREGONNING HOOPER, 1827, UNKNOWN TITLE, VOL I, NO 6, 7-9 (Unedited Source). SCO5851.

<8> Thomas, R, 1827, History and Description of the Town and Harbour of Falmouth, 110-113 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4698.

<9> Thomas, R, 1851, Letters to the West Briton (Article in newspaper). SCO4699.

<10> Brine, F, 1855, Shilling Trip to Falmouth (Bibliographic reference). SCO2906.

<11> Pasfield Oliver, S, 1875, Pendennis and St Mawes (Bibliographic reference). SCO4086.

<12> Beckett, R, 1961, Tercenteniary of Falmouth (Bibliographic reference). SCO2815.

<13> UNKNOWN, 1963, MOW GUIDE (Unedited Source). SCO7885.

<14> Carew, R, 1969, The Survey of Cornwall 1602 (Bibliographic reference). SCO3044.

<15> Institute Of Cornish Studies, 1987, Place-Names Index (Bibliographic reference). SCO3621.

<16> Padel, OJ, 1985, Cornish Place-Name Elements, 85, 177-180 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4064.

<17> Hartgroves, S & Sharpe, A & Roberts, C, 1985, Pendennis Castle and the Headland, Falmouth (Cornwall Event Report). SCO3459.

<18> Morley, B, 1988, The Castles of Pendennis and St Mawes (Bibliographic reference). SCO3957.

<19> Sharpe, A, 1989, Pendinas Castle (Cornwall Event Report). SCO4367.

<20> Walker, R, 1989, Pendennis Castle Resistivity Survey 1989 (Bibliographic reference). SCO5007.

<21> Linzey, R, 2000, Fortress Falmouth. An conservation plan for the historic defences of Falmouth Haven Vol II (2000), Site V1 (Cornwall Event Report). SCO1563.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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