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Summary

A battery, rectangular in plan, consisting of a platform with stone side and rear walls, built into the inside of the Elizabethan curtain wall across the Garrison neck.

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 Monuments Record: SV 91 SW 316
• National Record of the Historic Environment to Historic Environment Records data transfer
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1445562
• NBR Index Number: 111235
• OS No. (OS Quarter-sheet and OS No.): SV91SW 30.7
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 7906.10
• SMR No. (OS Quarter-sheet and SMR No.): SV91SW 31

Monument Type(s):

• COASTAL 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 7423.13 (b17).
A battery, rectangular in plan, consisting of a platform with stone side and rear walls, built into the inside of the Elizabethan curtain wall across the Garrison neck (7906.04), is situated on the north side of the Garrison gate and guardhouse (7906.05, 7901.01). It was built by 1715 and repaired by 1742, possibly 1741-1742. The site is a Listed Building, Grade I and is Scheduled (h1). The battery is not shown on the 1665 plan of the Garrison (b1) or a 1669 view of its east side (b2). As noted by the OS (h2) it is marked as Jefferson's battery on a 1715 map (b3). It does not appear again on a 1741 plan (b4) but is shown as a "repaired platform", with SW entrance, in 1742 (b5); though the 1746 plan of the fortifications with proposed improvements omits it (b6). Tovey marks it as 'Jefferson's battery' in 1750 (b7). Troutbeck records three 4-pdrs here - among the smallest then on the Garrison - used on rare ceremonial occasions (b8). The 1888 and 1907 OS maps show substantial walling on the south and west sides, replaced by slighter boundaries by the 1981 OS (b11, b13, b14). According to Thomas, the battery is named after Captain Charles Jefferson, senior of the Garrison by 1738 (b15). The 1978 OS fieldworker found the site used as a yard, with walling 4.0m high (h2). It was visited in 1988 (h3) and surveyed in 1991 (h4). In 1993 the very regular ashlar stonework inside the walls was noted, with round headed drain openings (two in east wall, one in north) and continuous granite paving inside the north and east sides (h5). Garden features include a rockery (centre) incorporating worked stones from the battery; concrete path (south side) and seats. The monument is included in the Schedule.

Described in 1995 (11): The battery with its neatly coursed ashlar walls probably started life and an earthen platform. It has a rectangular plan with an interior measuring up to 12.5m by 8.5m and defined by parapets generally 0.8m high except on the south side. Here there is a short stub wall extending 3.3m from the curtain wall. The parapet varies in width -1.8m wide on the east, 1.6m wide on the north and 0.7m wide on the west. The battery walls serve as revetments for the levelled interior, retaining up to c. 3m above the steep downward slope to the north. The large block ashlar masonry is characteristic of the 1742 - 50 refurbishment though the west wall has a marked fabric change near its centre, with neat smaller ¿ slab ashlar forming the southern sector. The east wall of the battery is formed by the curtain wall rising c.4m - 5m above the rock-cut modern yard below. The power part of the curtain wall here remains as the c.1601 fabric over the rock cut face formerly fronting the ditch. The interior has a continuous 3.5m wide band of neatly paved hardstanding for guns behind the north and east parapets, drained by round-headed slots passing through the parapet; one of the north has a projecting gutter on the outer face, the other two have modern drainpipe heads. The remaining part of the interior has a modern rockery garden. Lillys drawing of the area in 1715 suggests that it is an earthen platform supporting a canon pointing NW.

Visited in 2005 (12): The adjacent Guardhouse was extensively renovated in 2005 and its garden - the interior of this battery - was renovated. The rockery was removed except for two earthfast hollowed stones and replaced by a lawn; also the granite hardstanding paving was augmented by the insertion of polished granite slabs adjacent to the rear of the building.

--------------------------------
Site history:
1: 1958. UNKNOWN/IAM
2: 1978. NJA/OS
3: 1988. WATERS, A/CAU
4: 1991. UNKNOWN/EH
5: 1993. RATCLIFFE, J/CAU
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National Monument Record, The Garrison Survey, St. Mary's, Isle of Scilly (Survey). SCO29940.

<1> UNKNOWN, 1665, A MAP OF THE HEW HILL THE CHEIFFE FFORTIFICATIONS, DD GO 575 (Unedited Source). SCO5453.

<2> Bowley, RL (Ed), 1980, The Fortunate Islands, 53 (Bibliographic reference). SCO5086.

<3> Lilly, C, 1715, A Plan of the Hugh (Unpublished document). SCO3869.

<4> UNKNOWN, 1741, A PLAN OF HUGH GARRISON IN ST MARY'S ISLAND AT SCILLY (Unedited Source). SCO5540.

<5> UNKNOWN, 1742, A PLAN OF HUGH FORT ALIAS THE STAR CASTLE (Unedited Source). SCO5544.

<6> UNKNOWN, 1746, A PLAN OF THE HUGH FORT (Unedited Source). SCO5552.

<7> Tovey, A, 1750, A Plan of the Peninsula and Fortifications on St Mary's (Bibliographic reference). SCO4950.

<8> Troutbeck, J, 1796, Survey of the Ancient and Present State of the Scilly Islands (Bibliographic reference). SCO4965.

<9> Birch, JF, 1974, Plan of the Garrison on the Island of Saint Mary, Scilly (Bibliographic reference). SCO2851.

<10> Ordnance Survey, 1880s, 1st Edition 1:2500 Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4048.

<11> Field Investigator's Comments, MPPA/Hooley, D. 1995. (Survey). SCO29739.

<12> Field Investigator's Comments, EH/Fletcher, M. 2005. (Survey). SCO29739.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• ECO3128 - Garrison Walls, Isles of Scilly, conservation plan
• ECO6309 - The Garrison, St. Mary's: Survey

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