Stack Rock Fort is a

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

built on a small island in the

Milford Haven Waterway Milford Haven Waterway (''Welsh: Dyfrffordd Aberdaugleddau'') is a natural harbour in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is a ria or drowned valley which was flooded at the end of the last ice age. The Daugleddau estuary winds west to the sea. As on ...

, Pembrokeshire, Wales. A 3-gun fort was built between 1850 and 1852, and then upgraded from 1859 to 1871 with a new building that completely encased the original gun tower. It is now a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

and a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

(registered SAM number PE334).

History

A fortification at Stack Rock was first proposed by

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as List of English chief ministers, chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the kin ...

in 1539 to protect the waterway, although this would not actually come to fruition at the time. Similar proposals were made in 1748 when Lewis Morris carried out a survey of Milford Haven, reporting on shipwrecks and navigation and recommending that a small fort be built here. Another survey followed in 1817. The

Royal Dockyard Royal Navy Dockyards (more usually termed Royal Dockyards) were state-owned harbour facilities where ships of the Royal Navy were built, based, repaired and refitted. Until the mid-19th century the Royal Dockyards were the largest industrial ...

Pembroke Dock Pembroke Dock ( cy, Doc Penfro) is a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales, northwest of Pembroke on the banks of the River Cleddau. Originally Paterchurch, a small fishing village, Pembroke Dock town expanded rapidly follow ...

was felt to be in need of defence from the sea, The result was a tower mounting three guns, similar to the two towers in Pembroke Dock. The tower was oval in section, with a maximum diameter of and a maximum height of . Construction commenced in 1850, being completed in 1852.Phillips, Benjamin A ''Pembrokeshire's Forts & Military Airfields 1535–2010'', Logaston Press, 2013 In 1858, the first appearance of the rendered the tower and its guns obsolete, so it was decided to completely surround it with a new battery. The original design was for two decks each of 19

casemate 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 ...

s and 16 open air guns above, 54 guns in total, and built mainly of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...

. However, after the foundations had been started in 1861, the design was amended to have stronger

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 ...

piers supporting iron gun shields. The basements and magazines had been completed in 1863, when the design was altered again, for 16 large guns on a single floor of casemates in the front and seven smaller guns on two floors in the

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to c ...

, the rear of the fort facing into the Haven. The top floor was built as accommodation intended for 4 officers and 152 men. On the roof of the fort, three

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

s each with two huge RML 12-inch 25-ton gun were planned, but never installed. This scheme was finally completed in 1871. The usual peacetime garrison was one officer and thirty men. Disarmed in 1929, it was first placed on the market in 1932 and sold for £160. In 2005 it was sold once more for £150,000. Concerns over the security of a nearby

LNG Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the vol ...

jetty were raised in 2013, following the discovery of potential trespasser activity. The fort was sold again in 2020 to a private owner for an undisclosed amount.

Land Registry Land registration is any of various systems by which matters concerning ownership, possession, or other rights in land are formally recorded (usually with a government agency or department) to provide evidence of title, facilitate transactions, ...

records show that it was sold in January 2021 for £191,000 to community interest company (CIC) Anoniiem.

Armament

The original tower housed three

32-pounder gun The 32-pounder guns (and the French 30-pounders) were sets of heavy-caliber pieces of artillery mounted on warships in the last century of the Age of sail, during the 18th and early 19th centuries. It was usually the most powerful armament on a w ...

s, as well as a single

12-pounder 12-pounder gun or 12-pdr, usually denotes a gun which fired a projectile of approximately 12 pounds. Guns of this type include: *12-pounder long gun, the naval muzzle-loader of the Age of Sail *Canon de 12 de Vallière, French cannon of 1732 * Can ...

for protection of the walls of the dock. From 1859 to 1871, the armaments were changed to sixteen

10-inch A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

and seven 9-inch

Rifled Muzzle Loader A rifled muzzle loader in the HMS_Gannet_(1878).html" ;"title="forecastle of HMS Gannet (1878)">forecastle of HMS Gannet (1878) A rifled muzzle loader (RML) is a type of large artillery piece invented in the mid-19th century. In contrast to Smoo ...

s. These were replaced with four 12-pounder QF (quick firing) guns in 1902. A small number of men manned the fort during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and by this time, only two 12-pounder QF guns remained.

References

External links

Official website

Victorian Forts data sheet
{{coord, 51.7024, -5.0921, display=title Forts in Pembrokeshire Grade II* listed buildings in Pembrokeshire History of Pembrokeshire Grade II* listed forts Palmerston Forts Sea forts