Ned's Point Fort is one of several

Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of mi ...

batteries built along the shores of

Lough Swilly Lough Swilly () in Ireland is a glacial fjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of the Inishowen Peninsula and the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal. Along with Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour it is one of three glacial fjords ...

county Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

, to defend the north west of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It was part of a scheme to fortify Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle against French Invasion during the Revolutionary and

Napoleonic War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

s. It is situated on Ned's Point, near the once important naval town of

Buncrana Buncrana ( ; ) is a town in Inishowen in the north of County Donegal in Ulster, the northern Provinces of Ireland, province in Ireland. The town sits on the eastern shores of Lough Swilly, being northwest of Derry and north of Letterkenny. I ...

, and its current form largely dates to works completed between 1812 and 1813. It comprised a rectangular blockhouse mounting two guns and a supporting battery mounting four guns. The fort is surrounded by a ditch. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars the defences were neglected and not updated. In 1874, the fort was armed with two 5.5-inch Howitzers in the tower and four 24 Pounder smooth bore guns in the main battery. It was remodeled in the 1890s as a battery with two 6-inch guns on hydropneumatic mountings. This included a central underground magazine complex and the height of the tower or blockhouse was also reduced. In addition two practice batteries were constructed for six 64 Pounder guns and four 5-inch Breech Loading (BL) guns. In 1905 it was recommended by the Owen Committee that the fort be disarmed. This was completed by 1907, and no armament was listed at the fort in a report dated to 1913. The fort remains substantially intact, along with the practice batteries. Parts of the site were restored by Buncrana Town Council in the 1990s, and subject to some additional restoration as of 2012. While there are a number of walking routes in the area, the fort itself is not open to the public.

References

Forts in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in County Donegal {{Ireland-struct-stub