| Summary : The Mount was erected in 1569 as a defence against the Spanish Armada. As originally designed and built, it was an earth platform 200 feet long and 50 feet high, and built against the inner town wall. The weight of wall caused the wall to collapse into the moat, so the wall was repaired and the Mount extended 30 feet beyond the wall. It was built in three tiers and appears to have mounted 10 guns. In 1588, Sir Thomas Leighton surveyed the town defences and found the Mount to be wanting, it forming a bank which could be easily scaled. It was modified as a large brick bastion with a scarp 15 feet high and with recessed flanks, most of which still survives, having been buried under the foundations of the general Hospital. The mount behind was modified to form a cavalier overlooking the bastion and adjoining walls. The mount within the walls was levelled in 1714 and St. Georges Chapel was built. The north wall and the east angle of this structure still survives as the boundary wall of the former Great Yarmouth Hospital yard (hospital now demolished). |
More information : (TG 52660733) The Mount (NR) (site of) (NAT) (1)
The Mount was erected in 1569 as a defence against the Spanish Armada. A section of the Medieval Wall was demolished and rebuilt to contain a roughly triangular mound which was 222ft long and extended 32ft beyond the original town wall. This formed a protective outwork of the type known as a ravelin and was used as an emplacement for ordnance. The mound within the walls was levelled in 1714 and St. Georges Chapel was built. The north wall and the east angle of this structure still survives as the boundary wall of the Great Yarmouth Hospital yard. (For a general history of the Medieval Town Wall see TG 50 NW 2). (2,3)
The north east section of the ravelin survives, bounded on the
outside by later buildings. On the inside, unsurveyable traces of the mount are visible between the wall and the hospital. A plaque on the apex of the ravelin gives a date of building as 1588.
Ground photograph. (4)
As originally designed and built, it was an earth platform 200 feet long and 50 feet high, and built against the inner town wall. The weight of wall caused the wall to collapse into the moat, so the wall was repaired and the Mount extended 30 feet beyond the wall. It was built in three tiers and appears to have mounted 10 guns. In 1588, Sir Thomas Leighton surveyed the town defences and found the Mount to be wanting, it forming a bank which could be easily scaled. It was modified as a large brick bastion with a scarp 15 feet high and with recessed flanks, most of which still survives, having been buried under the foundations of the general Hospital. The mount behind was modified to form a cavalier overlooking the bastion and adjoining walls. (5) |