Fort Picklecombe stands on the extreme south eastern coast of
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...
, a couple of miles west of the city of
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymout ...
. The fort has been a residential complex since the early 1970s but has a history dating back 150 years.
Founding
Fort Picklecombe was
commissioned in the mid 19th century by
Lord Palmerston
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...
, Foreign Secretary and then Prime Minister under
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
. Being an island,
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
was at risk from large scale enemy invasion by sea, particularly from
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
.
Palmerston ordered a series of coastal forts and batteries to be built in this area to defend the large naval base at
Devonport in Plymouth. The coastal entrance to Plymouth is known as
Plymouth Sound
Plymouth Sound, or locally just The Sound, is a deep inlet or sound in the English Channel near Plymouth in England.
Description
Its southwest and southeast corners are Penlee Point in Cornwall and Wembury Point in Devon, a distance of abo ...
, and was to be defended by Fort Picklecombe to the west,
Fort Bovisand
Fort Bovisand is a fort in Devon, England near the beach of Bovisand. It was built as a result of the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom which reported in 1860. It is located on the mainland to defend the entrance of Plymouth ...
to the east, and a smaller fort on the Plymouth Sound breakwater. Fort Picklecombe itself would be defended from attack from the rear by a series of smaller forts and batteries positioned on or near the
Rame peninsula
The Rame Peninsula ( kw, Gorenys an Ros) is a peninsula in south-east Cornwall. The peninsula is surrounded by the English Channel to the south, Plymouth Sound to the east, the Hamoaze to the northeast and the estuary of the River Lynher to th ...
.
Fort Picklecombe was built near an earlier earthen battery dating back to the start of the 19th century. It was designed by Major (later Maj Gen)
Whitworth Porter
Whitworth Porter (1827–1892) was an English Major General of the Royal Engineers, known also as a historical writer.
Life
The second son of Henry Porter, of Winslade House, South Devon, he was born at Winslade, near Exeter, on 25 September 182 ...
, and was built by Hubbard and Company. Constructed between 1864 and 1871, the fort was armed with forty two
9-inch and
10-inch muzzle loading guns, which were mounted in a semi-circular arc of two-storey
casemates
A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" mean ...
faced with
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...
blocks and iron shields. In the 1890s, it was rearmed with two
6-inch breech-loaders and two light quick firing guns. Not a single shot has ever been