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Summary

A Civil War gun battery with nearby gun platform on the north east facing coast of Castle Down Brow.

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 15515: PREHISTORIC FUNERARY, RITUAL AND SETTLEMENT REMAINS; POST-MEDIEVAL DEFENCES, TIN MINE, LOOKOUTS AND ENCLOSURES ON CASTLE DOWN, TRESCO

Other References/Statuses

• Primary Record No. (1985-2009): 168741
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s):

• BATTERY (Civil War (1642 to 1651) - 1642 AD to 1651 AD)

Full description

The item includes a Civil War gun battery with nearby gun platform on the north east facing coast of the small promontory formed by Castle Down Brow. The battery is one of several features on Castle Down promontory attributable to the Civil War defences; the others include a breastwork (7290) that extends around the coast of the small Castle Down promontory and part of which forms the forward flank of the battery in this item; a rock shelter nearby to the north which may also be associated with this Civil War activity; an earthen artillery defence erected around the mid-C16 artillery fort King Charles' Castle overlooking the north west coast of the Down, and two levelled platforms to the south of the artillery fort on the slope behind Castle Porth. Early references to this battery and its mention on early OS mapping up to 1963 are described in the AM 107 prepared for the breastwork following a CAU field visit in 1988 to that item. On that AM 107, both the OS and CAU equate the battery with the breastwork, the OS in particular feeling that the battery mentioned by Troutbeck in 1796 is a natural scarp. On his 1996 visit, the MPP archaeologist (Dave Hooley) found the breastwork to be largely as described on the AM 107 but also noted the battery and a previously unrecorded gun platform as artificial features behind and quite distinct from the breastwork on the north-east facing coast of the Brow's tip. The previously unrecorded gun platform is located at SV 8879 1640, on a small area of sloping turf behind the low coastal edge and behind a short length of breastwork to its north west that closes a gap between a spread of boulders on the coast and the base of the Brow's northern rocky scarp. The gun platform faces NNE and is visible as a semi-circular levelled area 3.5m wide, WNW-ESE, by 2.0m long, NNE-SSW; it is levelled into the slope on its south west by a curved backscarp, 0.3m high, with largely turf-covered traces of a rubble facing. The main gun battery in this item is about 25m south east of the gun platform, on the other side of the coastal boulder spread, and extends along the rear of the coastal breastwork from 14m south east of that boulder spread. The gun battery is visible as a rectangular hollow 16m long, NW-SE, by 3.75m-4.0m wide, with squared ends. It is levelled 0.5m-0.75m deep into the slope and defined along the south west side and both ends by the levelling backscarp; across the north west end this is supplemented by a slight bank 1.0m wide and 0.25m high immediately outside the levelling scarp. The battery uses the breastwork for its forward flank, which here changes its otherwise 'step-like' character to become a true bank, 1.5m wide, 0.3m-0.7m high along its inner side and to 1.0m high along its outer side where it has edge-set facing slabs to 0.6m high. This use of the breastwork for its forward flank, without apparent deviation from its course to each side, might indicate that the battery was an afterthought to an original intention to protect this part of the coastline by a breastwork alone. This battery and gun platform are clearly positioned to give fire across shipping entering the channels between Tresco, St Helen's and Northwethel, an area that was eventually to be the scene of Admiral Blake's initial maritime activity leading to the recapture of Tresco by the Parliamentarian forces in 1651. The separate gun platform behind the short north western breastwork was almost certainly intended to extend the field of fire to the north and NNW across the approach to those channels, complementing the main battery whose field of view was partly restricted in that direction. About 15m north west of the gun platform is a small shelter (AI 139498) utilising a natural cleft at the base of the Brow's rocky scarp; this shelter may be associated with the Civil War activity at this battery and breastwork, perhaps as one of the ancillary features sometimes referred to as 'bivouac platforms'. The monument was included in the Schedule on 18/3/1998.

The site was visited in 2008-10 by English Heritage (1). They could not identify any sign of a battery at the location, altough suggest that the remains of a field system are present.

<1> Bowden, M, 2011, Isles of Scilly Military Defences, 1540-1951: Earthwork Sites and Minor Features, 7 (Cornwall Event Report). SCO25530.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• ECO3819 - Isles of Scilly Military Defences, 1540-1951 (Ref: RDRS 56-2011)

Related records: none recorded

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