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Summary

A battery, irregular in plan with north west, south west and (shorter) SSE faces, associated with the mid-C18 walls around the southern half of the Garrison.

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 15434: POST-MEDIEVAL BREASTWORK, CURTAIN WALL AND ASSOCIATED DEFENSIVE STRUCTURES ON THE PERIPHERY OF THE GARRISON, ST MARY'S
• Listed Building (I) 62521: OUTER WALLS AND GATEWAY

Other References/Statuses

• National Mapping Programme (Morph No.): 60.1.28-29
• National Monuments Record: SV 81 SE 501
• National Record of the Historic Environment to Historic Environment Records data transfer
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1445523
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SV81SE 30.18
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 7906.28
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SV81SE 2

Monument Type(s):

• BATTERY (18th Century - 1701 AD to 1800 AD)

Full description

Prior to the 1994 revision of the Garrison defences SMR, this site was recorded under PRN 7423.04 (b14).
A battery, irregular in plan with north west, south west and (shorter) SSE faces, consisting of a platform behind stone walls associated with the mid-C18 walls around the southern half of the Garrison (7906.18), is situated inland of a C17 predecessor (7904.16). A small structure was added in the 1900s (7908.11). The site is Scheduled (h1). A 1742 plan of proposed works shows one of a series of small redans here rather than a battery (b2). The battery is shown on a 1746 plan, probably still not built as the redans shown to the south east differ from those constructed (b3). Tovey's 1750 survey records it as 'Mrs Godolphin's (new) battery' in 1796, but does not locate it precisely (b5). No name is recorded for the site in 1834 (b6). North's 1850 account locates Bartholomew only as between Woolpack and Steval batteries (b7). The name Bartholomew battery for this site, then dismantled, is recorded on the 1888 OS (b8) and recurs in 1907 (b9). It is retained here as the established name (b12), though apparently wrongly attributed (b4); the Bartolomew platform of early records, from which the name would presumably have been transferred to its C18 successor, is not that outside this site (7904.16) but that outside the next C18 battery north west now known as Colonel George Boscawen's battery (7906.29). Thomas lists this site as Bartholomew battery; he notes that the mid-C18 name, after 'Mrs Godolphin' reflects that family's tenure of Scilly, and barony from 1684 (b12). The 1978 OS fieldworker found the walls 2.0m thick by 2.7m (externally) and 1.8m (internally) high (h2). The site was visited in 1984 and 1988 (h3, h4) and surveyed in 1991 (h6). Features were recorded in 1990 (h5); embrasures on north west, and one drainage hole on the SSE and NW sides, two on the SW (all with external stone spouts). The monument is included in the Schedule. The site is visible on aerial photographs (p1) and was plotted as part of the NMP.
(b14) - Parkes, C, 1994, Pers Comm,

The battery was described in 2005 (14; see also 15, 16): The battery is faced both internally and externally with precisely cut, squared blocks - many cut in situ (some to precisely fit their neighbouring stones). The three narrow arched drains have external stone spouts. It has five embrasures, three pointing out to sea and two affording a field of fire towards the adjacent batteries; there are three paved gun platforms. The outward sloping top of the wall is a combination of mortar and grass.

--------------------------------
Site history:
1: 1958. SAUNDERS, A/IAM
2: 1978. NJA/OS
3: 1984. UNKNOWN/MSC - ICS
4: 1988. WATERS, A/CAU
5: 1990. JOHNSON, N/CAU
6: 1991. UNKNOWN/EH
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<1> UNKNOWN, 1741, A PLAN OF HUGH GARRISON IN ST MARY'S ISLAND AT SCILLY (Unedited Source). SCO5540.

CAU, 1987, CAU/F14/106,149 (Photographic Record). SCO17007.

<2> UNKNOWN, 1742, A PLAN OF HUGH FORT ALIAS THE STAR CASTLE (Unedited Source). SCO5544.

<3> UNKNOWN, 1746, A PLAN OF HUGH FORT, I, 1810 (Unedited Source). SCO5551.

<4> Tovey, A, 1750, A Plan of the Peninsula and Fortifications on St Mary's (Bibliographic reference). SCO4950.

<5> Troutbeck, J, 1796, Survey of the Ancient and Present State of the Scilly Islands (Bibliographic reference). SCO4965.

<6> Birch, JF, 1974, Plan of the Garrison on the Island of Saint Mary, Scilly (Bibliographic reference). SCO2851.

<7> North, IW, 1850, A Week in the Isles of Scilly, 120 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4004.

<8> Ordnance Survey, 1880s, 1st Edition 1:2500 Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4048.

<9> Ordnance Survey, 1900s, 2nd Edition 1:2500 Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4050.

<10> O'Neil, BH St J, 1961, Isles of Scilly MOW Guide (Bibliographic reference). SCO4042.

<11> Ordnance Survey, 1970s, 1:10,000 OS Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4045.

<12> THOMAS, AC, 1989, THE NAMES OF THE BATTERIES ON THE GARRISON, ST MARY'S, ISLES IF SCILLY (Unedited Source). SCO8924.

<13> Carpenter, AC, 1984, The Cannon of Pendennis and St. Mawes Castles, Cornwall (Bibliographic reference). SCO5087.

<14> Field Investigator's Comments, EH/Fletcher, M. 2005. (Survey). SCO29739.

<15> Brodie, A, 2011, The Garrison, St Mary's Isles of Scilly: The Defences of the Garrison 1500-1945 - survey report, 46, figs. 24, 34. (Bibliographic reference). SCO24047.

<16> Bowden, M and Brodie, A, 2011, Defending Scilly, 50 (Bibliographic reference). SCO29932.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• ECO3128 - Garrison Walls, Isles of Scilly, conservation plan
• ECO6309 - The Garrison, St. Mary's: Survey
• ECO3819 - Isles of Scilly Military Defences, 1540-1951 (Ref: RDRS 56-2011)

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