| Summary: | Fort Charles. Later reconstructed and strengthened in 1643 by Prince maurice. Besieged by Fairfax between 15th January and 7th May 1646 when its Royalist garrison, under the command of Fortescue surrendered. A small watch tower was built onto the ruins of Fort Charles in 18C or 19C. Survives as a ruin, best preserved on the landward side where a large semi-circular, 4 storey tower of dressed slate rubble on the southwest side of the site is flanked a short distance to the northeast by the remains of a narrower rectangular tower. The 2 are connected by a straight section of wall facing the cliff. Large quantities of earth and rubble lie against the interior, preserving remains of several rooms. On the seaward side of the fort, traces of a semi-circular battery of at least 2 storeys survive, with 6 gun ports facing across the estuary at ground floor level. These are visible as cuts in the rock, with one pier surviving between the gun ports; a shaped corbel which supported the gun port lintel survives on its southwest. A door connected the southwest tower with the battery. Low walls projecting from the now buried rear part of the fort show that a rectangular kitchen with an oven on its west side abutted the straight wall on the landward side, while rooms on either side lay within the two flanking towers. The only identifiable entrance is a sally port at the northeast end of the main gun battery. This had a narrow L-shaped passage 1.2m wide, with doors at its inner end into the basement of the north tower and the seaward gun battery. A large stone pier at the southwest corner of the kitchen partly supported the first floor, with a recess for a newel stair alongside, leading to a second gun deck above the first. |
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