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Summary

A large four sided battery, irregular in plan, consisting of a platform behind stone revetted turf banks with stone and rear walls associated with the C18 curtain wall.

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.): 60.1.4
• National Monuments Record: SV 81 SE 498
• National Record of the Historic Environment to Historic Environment Records data transfer
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1445026
• NBR Index Number: 111235
• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 7906.02

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 7423.06 (b15).
A large four sided battery, irregular in plan, consisting of a platform behind stone revetted turf banks with stone and rear walls associated with the C18 curtain wall (7906.01), is situated on an eroded point, just inland of a C17 platform (7904.20). The site is a Listed Building, Grade I and Scheduled Monument (h2). A 1655 plan shows the early five sided platform projecting from the flanking breastwork (b1). The OS (h1) note 'Charles Battery' recorded on a 1715 map (b2). The 1741, 1742 and 1746 representations are not clearly associated with either the breastwork or curtain, and have a NW angle resembling that shown in 1655 but now absent (b3-b5). The battery with NW angle however appears at the present site on a 1750 plan (b6) suggesting it was re-sited here before 1741 - the west side being modified by 1834, when a plan shows no NW angle (b8). The 1715 map and physical relationship of the battery to the 1741-42 curtain running NE, may confirm this (b15). Troutbeck in 1796 lists guns here, and describes in detail a 24-pdr with traversing platform resembling that at Steval battery (7904.19) at this time (b7). The 1888 OS shows the battery as 'dismantled' (b10). Thomas suggests that the name in honour of Charles II dates from the 1660 restoration (b13); it would then have been transferred from the earlier platform (b15). Carpenter discusses the earlier traversing carriage, its function covering the NW Garrison coast, together within its Steval counterpart - and the reproduction installed and fired in 1992 (b4). The 1978 OS fieldworker records the walls as stone with earth fill and top (h1). The site was visited in 1984 and 1988 (h3, h4) and surveyed 1991 (h6). In 1990, besides the traversing platform and adjacent former gun site, two trapezoidal, inwardly splaying, finely paved platforms for guns firing over the NW wall, and one each for the embrasures in the west and NE faces, were noted (h5). Drain holes are square, with no external stone spouts. The west turf wall was reconstructed in 1992 (h7). In 1993 the face was found to be revetted with medium large stones; the upper course of ashlar below the turf step is not continued on the rebuilt west side (h8). The monument was included in the Schedule on 19/3/1998. The site is visible on aerial photographs (p1, p2) and was plotted as part of the NMP.
(b15) - Parkes, C, 1994, Pers Comm, ,

Saunders (18) notes that an example of a traversing Gribeauval gun mounting survives at the battery. The invention of the Gribeauval carriage allowed guns to fire over the parapet as well as through the limited number of embrasures.

The site was visited in 2005 (15; also 16, 17): The battery is very well maintained and is a good state of preservation. The parapet and embrasures are reinforced by a now refurbished earthen facing. The rear wall, of infantry height, is constructed of large, squared ashlar blocks. The present armaments are one 32 pounder, two early 19th c ?24pounders on wooden garrison carriages with iron trucks, a late 17th c .Swedish 4 pounder on a ships carriage with wooden trucks and an 18 pounder mounted on a wooden carriage with iron trucks mounted on a wooden traversing platform.

--------------------------------
Site history:
1: 1978. NJA/OS
2: 1982. UNKNOWN/EH
3: 1984. MSC-ICS
4: 1988. WATERS, A/CAU
5: 1990. JOHNSON, N/CAU
6: 1991. UNKNOWN/EH
8: 1993. RATCLIFFE, J/CAU
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National Monument Record, Defending the Isles of Scilly (Survey). SCO29941.

National Monument Record, The Garrison Survey, St. Mary's, Isle of Scilly (Survey). SCO29940.

<1> UNKNOWN, 1655, MAP OF THE HEW HILL THE CHEIFFE FFORTIFICATIONS, DD GO 575 (Unedited Source). SCO5447.

CA, 199, 424 35A,36A;425,2-8,11,14 (Photographic Record). SCO18032.

<2> Lilly, C, 1715, A Plan of the Hugh (Unpublished document). SCO3869.

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

<3> UNKNOWN, 1741, A PLAN OF HUGH GARRISON IN ST MARY'S ISLAND AT SCILLY (Unedited Source). SCO5540.

<4> UNKNOWN, 1742, A PLAN OF HUGH FORT ALIAS THE STAR CASTLE (Unedited Source). SCO5544.

<5> UNKNOWN, 1746, A PLAN OF THE HUGH FORT (Unedited Source). SCO5552.

<6> Tovey, A, 1750, A Plan of the Peninsula and Fortifications on St Mary's (Bibliographic reference). SCO4950.

<7> Troutbeck, J, 1796, Survey of the Ancient and Present State of the Scilly Islands, 47-49 (Bibliographic reference). SCO4965.

<8> Birch, JF, 1974, Plan of the Garrison on the Island of Saint Mary, Scilly (Bibliographic reference). SCO2851.

<9> North, IW, 1850, A Week in the Isles of Scilly (Bibliographic reference). SCO4004.

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

<11> Owen, JJ, 1897, Faire Lyonesse - a Guide to the Isles of Scilly (Bibliographic reference). SCO4061.

<12> Ordnance Survey, 1900s, 2nd Edition 1:2500 Map (Cartographic materials). SCO4050.

<13> THOMAS, AC, 1989, THE NAMES OF THE BATTERIES ON THE GARRISON, ST MARY'S, ISLES IF SCILLY (Unedited Source). SCO8924.

<14> Carpenter, AC, 1984, The Cannon of Pendennis and St. Mawes Castles, Cornwall, 64, 99-102 (Bibliographic reference). SCO5087.

<15> Field Investigator's Comments, HE/Fletcher, M. 2005. (Survey). SCO29739.

<16> Brodie, A, 2011, The Garrison, St Mary's Isles of Scilly: The Defences of the Garrison 1500-1945 - survey report, 52, fig. 37 (Bibliographic reference). SCO24047.

<17> Bowden, M and Brodie, A, 2011, Defending Scilly, 34-50 (Bibliographic reference). SCO29932.

<18> Saunders, A, 1989, Fortress Britain: artillery fortifications in the British Isles and Ireland, 79-80, 193-201 (Bibliographic reference). SCO30039.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

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

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