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Summary

A five sided battery in plan with an open back, consisting of a platform originally behind stone walls associated with the mid-C18 walls around the south half of the Garrison.

Protected Status

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

Other References/Statuses

• National Mapping Programme (Morph No.): 60.1.7
• National Monuments Record: SV 81 SE 502
• National Record of the Historic Environment to Historic Environment Records data transfer
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1445532
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SV81SE 502
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 7906.29
• 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 was recorded under PRN 7423.05 (b13).
A five sided battery in plan with an open back, consisting of a platform originally behind stone walls associated with the mid-C18 walls around the south half of the Garrison (7906.18), with a sallyport to the north west (7906.19), is situated inland of its C17 predecessor (7904.17). A 1900s installation occupies the interior (7908.13). The site is Scheduled (h1). A proposed battery extending west from here over the earlier platform named 'Bartholomew battery' is recorded on a 1742 map (b1). The plan, adapted with the name 'Bartholomew battery', is shown in 1746; it was probably not then completed, the source referring to the "line proposed" (b3). According to Thomas (b12), it is named as 'Colonel George Boscawen's battery' on Tovey's 1750 map (b4). Troutbeck's 1976 survey mentions four guns at Bartolomew battery, but does not locate it precisely (b5). The 1834 map does not name the battery (b6). North refers to three guns at 'Bartholomew's battery', located between Woolpack and Steval (b7). The site is not named on the 1888, 1907 or 1981 OS maps (b8, b9, b11). The established names for this and the next C18 battery south east are retained here; the Bartholomew battery of early records, from which the name would presumably have been transferred to its C18 successor, is however to the seaward of this site (7904.17), not that to the south east (b13). Thomas notes that the name recorded in 1750 is after George Boscawen, appointed Lieutenant Governor in 1745 (b12). The 1978 OS fieldworker describes this as an angular unnamed battery (h2). It was visited in 1984 and 1988 (h3, h4). In March 1990 indications of levelling in front of the battery were noted in the exposed cliff (h5). In September 1990 possible bases of two or three embrasures on of each of the three faces - removed with the original parapet in the 1990s - were recorded (h6). Drain holes with no external spouts were also visible. The site was surveyed in 1991 (h7). The monument is included in the Schedule. The site is visible on aerial photographs (p1) and was plotted as part of the NMP.
(b13) - Parkes, C, 1994, Pers Comm, ,

The area was visited in 1990 (15). Indications of levelling in front of the battery were noted in the exposed cliff. Possible bases of 2 or 3 embrasures on each of the 3 faces removed with the original parapet in the 1890s were recorded. Drain holes with no external spouts were also visible. The battery is largely subterranean necessitating the provision of the drainage tunnel to the cliff at SV89551014. This tunnel runs NNE towards the south angle of the fort. It is cut into the rab with fairly straight sides and roof and is c.1.5mwide and 1.5m high. A pair of regular slots in uprights in the walls 1.5m back from the entrance probably served to support the roof during the laying of the ceramic pipe - visible beneath the boulders on the SE side of the tunnel.

The battery was visited in 2005 (13, 14): The battery is very well preserved and maintained. The earthen top of the walling is being eroded by visitor pressure. The mouth of the tunnel at the cliff edge is eroding and is filled with boulders.
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Site history:
1: 1958. SAUNDERS, A/IAM
2: 1978. NJA/OS
3: 1984. UNKNOWN/MSC-ICS
4: 1988. WATERS, A/CAU
5: 1990. HERRING, P AND PARKES, C/CAU
6: 1990. JOHNSON, N/CAU
7: 1991. UNKNOWN/EH
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National Monument Record, The Garrison Survey, St. Mary's, Isle of Scilly (Survey). SCO29940.

<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 THE HUGH FORT ALIAS THE STAR CASTLE (Unedited Source). SCO5545.

<3> UNKNOWN, 1746, A PLAN OF THE HUGH FORT (Unedited Source). SCO5552.

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

<14> Brodie, A, 2011, The Garrison, St Mary's Isles of Scilly: The Defences of the Garrison 1500-1945 - survey report (Bibliographic reference). SCO24047.

<15> Parkes, C, 1990, Fieldwork in Scilly: March 1990, 23 (Cornwall Event Report). SCO1727.

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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