FORTRESS STUDY GROUP

The Defences of Cork Harbour in Ireland

lan V Stevenson

The defences constructed at Cork as a result of the Royal Commission Report of 1860 have been largely neglected in studies of nineteenth century fortification with only fleeting references to their existence. Perhaps this is not surprising as they were not as extensive as those built around the other dockyards, yet the works individually were larger than their English counterparts. When built, the forts were continuously adapted to keep pace with improved technology in military engineering and weaponry throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century and into the early years of the twentieth century. Many of the contemporary English works were relegated to being barracks and stores or put to other uses well removed from fortification. After the First World War, although the guns were retained, the Cork defences declined in importance for political and strategic reasons and increasing obsolescence until, finally, they were surrendered to the Irish Government in 1938.


Cork is the third city of Ireland and an ancient foundation lying on the River Lee some nine miles up-river from the large basin known as Cork Harbour. The harbour entrance is a narrow channel one and a half miles long with an average width of 1400 yards, with Spike Island lying immediately to the north of the channel. The main anchorage lies to the east of the harbour and was said to be capable of holding a fleet of nine battleships, two cruisers and twelve destroyers with adequate shelter from all winds.


The strategic importance of Cork began during the Napoleonic War when the naval establishment at Kinsale was transferred to Haulbowline Island and the gunpowder mills were built at Ballincollig to the west of the city together with a large adjacent barracks. The harbour became a naval anchorage from where the entrance to the English Channel could be covered and the blockade of France maintained. Defences had been built in the seventeenth century for the immediate protection of the city and in the mid-eighteenth century a two-tiered fort had been built at Cobh to cover the anchorage. During the American War of Independence, the beginnings of what later became Forts Camden and Carlisle were started on each side of the harbour entrance at the narrowest point.


The Napoleonic War provided the impetus for an extensive number of defence works to protect the harbour and the newly created naval dockyard on Haulbowline Island with its attendant magazine. Five Martello Towers were built, a small fort on Spike Island was started, the inner core of Fort Carlisle was started and Rams Head Fort, later Fort Camden, was remodelled. The fort on Spike Island gradually evolved into the present Fort Westmoreland, as building continued intermittently well after 1815.

Schematic map of Cork Harbour.

Martello Towers: I. Rossleague 2. Belvelly 3. Marino Point 4. Haulbowline 5. Ringaskiddy
Royal Commission proposed Works - never built: A. Battery at White Point, B. Work at Cork Beg, C. Tower

The five Martello Towers were built at the end of the Napoleonic War, three were positioned on the north side of Great Island, one on Haulbowline Island and the other at Ringaskiddy. Unlike contemporary English and some Irish towers, those at Cork are straight sided and, like most Irish ones, of larger design. The Rossleague Tower stands on aknoll commanding the surrounding area and could easily have supported a battery. The Belvelly Tower is ideally placed covering the bridge, spanning the Belvelly Channel, with the only road access to Great Island. This tower too could have supported a battery. The Ringaskiddy Tower is surrounded by a ditch and could have been used in conjunction with a battery or even mobile artillery as it commands the channel on the western side of the harbour that leads up river to Cork. The tower at Marino Point, sometimes known as the Monning Tower, is one of two Martello Towers ever to see action, when it was surprised on 26 December 1867, by aband of Fenians who removed all the arms and ammunition. By 1876 only the Haulbowline Tower and the Ringaskiddy Tower were armed each with a 32-pdr SB and thirty rounds of ammunition apiece. [1]


There were, however, serious weaknesses in the defences as General Sir John Burgoyne, the Inspector-General of Fortifications, noted in a memorandum in November 1855, where he considered that the harbour "by nature and position may be a very valuable station for naval resort in war time" and found that the fort on Spike Island "does not afford entirely sufficient protection; and therefore the points of entrance very much require to be strengthened by sea batteries within self-defensible forts". [2] The scene was set for the Royal Commission to consider the Defences of the Royal Dockyards and Arsenals of the United Kingdom.


"The harbour of Cork possesses great capabilities as a naval port being easy of access and egress and affording a safe anchorage within its waters for a very large fleet of men-of-war and merchant ships. In time of war, it would occupy an important naval strategical position for the defence of Ireland, and the west coast of England andWales; also as an advanced position clear of the channel where a fleet might await orders with the certainty of not being delayed by westerly gales, and where convoys might rendez-vous having reached this point of departure by a coasting voyage inside Scilly, thereby avoiding the enemy's cruisers", so stated the Royal Commission in its opening paragraph on Cork. The Commission proposed that Forts Camden and Carlisle be remodelled with landward defences sufficient to enclose a suitable area for the seaward firing batteries to be extended to cover the southern approach to the harbour entrance and with a number of guns to be able to give a reverse fire on ships sailing up the channel. Fort Westmoreland, on Spike Island, was to be completed with provision for more guns on the southern front of the fort to cover the harbour entrance. The Commission recommended that two additional works be constructed at Cork Beg and White Point and that the old fort at Cove (Cobh) be remodelled for a single tier of guns. The Commissioners decided against extensive land defences which would entail a large garrison. Instead they chose to cover suitable landing places to the east and west of the harbour to prevent a flank attack. For immediate land defence the five Martello towers were incorporated into the scheme, a tower was to be built at Ringabella Cove and three in Ballycotton Bay together with a four or five gun work to protect Youghal harbour. Fort Charles at Kinsale was considered sufficient to protect the harbour there. [3] The number of guns required for the defences was put at ninety and the total cost of the recommendations was £120,000, a modest sum when compared to the costs of the defences at Portsmouth £2,800,000, Plymouth £3,020,000 and Chatham £1,350,000. [4]


All photographs in this article are taken by the author. Click on pictures to enlarge them.



Rossleague Martello Tower.	Fort Camden, Right Upper Battery	Fort Camden. Distant view from Fort Carlise showing R. & L. Lower Batteries.	Fort Camden, Upper Left Battery

Of the works recommended by the Royal Commission, only those at Forts Camden, Carlisle and Westmoreland were ever completed, none of the other proposed works were built. Fort Charles at Kinsale was abandoned as a coast defence work by 1890 and its mixed armament of rifled and smooth-bore guns was removed. [5] Its use, thereafter, was as a camp for the militia until 1921. In the civil war, from 1922 to 1923, the barracks inside the fort was burnt by anti-treaty forces reducing the interior of the fort to a ruin.


By the end of the 1860s the three forts had been built as planned, though not without problems, and there remained the construction of the various gun batteries either with armoured shields or with Moncrieff mountings, the latter being cheaper than the former. Fort Westmoreland had been completed, using mainly convict labour, but the remaining work to be done, the construction of sixteen gun positions, would be carried out by military labour. The land defences at Fort Carlisle had been started in 1861 using a contractor who went bankrupt early in 1863. In September, the War Department took over the work from the Trustees in bankruptcy, using convict labour, until the end of 1867, when the convicts were replaced by military and civilian labour. The land front at Fort Camden, which included the casemated barracks, was started by a contractor in 1862 and the first part was completed behind schedule in 1864; a second contract was made for the completion of the land front early in 1865, but it was terminated two years later due to unsatisfactory work. Thereafter, military labour was used. The estimated cost of completing the outstanding work at all three forts was put at £104,288. [6]


In February 1874, Colonel Jervois was able to report to the Defence Committee that all the required work at Cork had been completed satisfactorily and it only remained for a small amount of work to be done to some batteries so that heavy guns could be mounted, which would be done by the end of the year. The cost of the work done at the three forts was:

Therefore, the defences at Cork exceeded the Royal Commission's estimate by £53,565 in the main due to the increased costs of heavier guns and the provision of armoured shields. [7]


With the introduction of a satisfactory breech loading rifled gun at the beginning of the 1880s, the defences of Cork harbour were reviewed. As the harbour entrance was just over one thousand yards wide, it was recommended that there should be a minefield laid between Ports Camden and Carlisle, covered by batteries of quick firing guns, initially 6-pdrs. These batteries, together with a Brennan Torpedo establishment, were constructed at Fort Camden. The armament of the forts in 1886 was: [8]

Ten years later, as part of the comprehensive review of coastal defences undertaken by the Joint Naval and Military Committee, Cork Harbour was classed as a port of refuge for merchantmen in time of war as well as a naval base. Merchantmen would have the option of sailing to Berehaven on the South-West comer of Ireland or Cork Harbour before being passed into the Channel or the Bristol Channel as necessary. Accordingly, the Committee proposed a number of changes to the existing armament at a cost of £108,350: [9]

Meanwhile the 6-pdr QF guns had been installed in two batteries to cover the minefield so that, by 1898, the armament and the new proposals for the forts were: [10]

The proposals of the Joint Committee were refined at the turn of the century by the Montgomery Committee: all the RML guns were to be removed, together with the 6-pdr QF which were to be replaced by 12-pdr QF, the 9.2-inch gun was to be substituted for the 10-inch BL, so that Fort Camden would receive two 9.2-inch BL, two 6-inch BL and three 12-pdr QF guns. Port Carlisle would receive three 9.2-inch BL, four 6-inch BL and three 12-pdr QF guns and Fort Westmoreland two 6-inch BL guns. The Committee commented that, if it had to design the defences anew, it would place the 9.2-inch and 6-inch guns at Roches Point and above Carrick Rock leaving only QF guns in each of the three forts. [11]


At the turn of the century the harbour defences at Cork were being rebuilt to take breech loading artillery. At Fort Carlisle two new batteries were built and two existing ones converted: the four 7-inch RMLs on Moncrieff mountings in No 1 Battery were dismounted and the Battery rebuilt to take three 12-pdr QF guns. At Rupert's Tower Battery, the two 12-inch RMLs were removed and the Battery reconstructed to take two 6-inch Mark VII guns. The new batteries were North Battery for two 6-inch Mark VII guns and South Battery for two 9.2-inch Mark X guns.


Although the Left Upper Battery at Fort Camden had been reconstructed for two 6-inch Mark VI converted guns, it was decided not to mount the new mark of 6-inch and the counter bombardment guns in the fort, but to mount them instead in a new work in the area of Carrick Rock, Fort Templebreedy. However, the right Upper and Left Lower Batteries were reconstructed to take a total of six 12-pdr QF guns. At Fort Westmoreland, various older marks of 6-inch guns were mounted in Bastions 2 and 4 with the main armament of two 6-inch Mark VII guns being mounted in No 3 Bastion replacing the three 12-inch RMLs.


Whilst the batteries were in the course of construction the Owen Committee made its report in 1905, the chief recommendation being a reduction in the armament. [12] The anti-torpedo boat defences were to consist of the five 12-pdr QF guns at Fort Camden and the three at Fort Carlisle. Only the two 6-inch batteries at Fort Carlisle were considered necessary together with three 9.2-inch guns for counter-bombardment: two at Fort Templebreedy and one at Fort Carlisle. All the remaining guns were considered unnecessary, but the Report was not adopted in full. All the obsolete RML guns as well as the 6-pdr QF had been removed by 1904. The Brennan Torpedo establishment at Fort Camden was closed in 1906 and, by 1908, all the earlier marks of 6-inch gun had gone with the exception of the two in the Upper Left Battery at Fort Camden which were retained as decoy or dummy guns.


A glimpse of the defences at Cork can be gleaned from the Inspector-General's Reports. One of these prepared by Major-General Dalton, Inspector of the Royal Garrison Artillery, on a visit of inspection to Cork at the end of June 1907 reads: [13]

"I witnessed practice from the two 6-inch Mark VII BL guns at North Battery Fort Carlisle by the Waterford Artillery.
The series fired by the Waterford Artillery was most unsatisfactory. The regiment had done less than two weeks of its annual training, and the detachments had not received sufficient instruction to justify their attempting any practice, except perhaps elementary with aiming rifle ammunition.
No hits were obtained owing to a combination of bad ranging and bad laying"


Further on in his report Major-General Dalton commented:


"I regret to say that I found the works generally in Cork Harbour in an untidy state. Guns and stores were dirty, and stores which might have been kept under cover were lying about exposed to the weather.
There are not sufficient arm racks provided, and no attempt had been made to keep the men's carbines in a handy and dry place. They seemed to have been thrown down anywhere about the emplacements.
Men sleep in all sorts of places owing to lack of adequate accommodation in shelters, therefore bedding and clothes are found lying about mixed up with stores, and tidiness and order suffer".


A year later things had improved when Major-General Dalton reported: [14]


"Last year I had to comment somewhat unfavourably on the state of the Royal Garrison Artillery in this Command.
I am happy to be able to state that I found everything in a much more satisfactory state, both as regards discipline, appearance, shooting and care of armament etc".


Needless to say there had been some changes in command of the Royal Garrison Artillery and the Cork Defences Command.


On the outbreak of the First World War, in August 1914, the defences at Cork Harbour were:[15]

During the war, Cork Harbour was used as naval base covering the western approaches and dealing with the U-boat menace. Because there was little likelihood of a major German naval attack, some changes were made in the armament at Fort Carlisle: North Battery was disarmed, a 12-pdrQF was removed from No 1 Battery and a 9.2-inch gun from South Battery. [16] A boom and anti-submarine net was established to the east of Spike Island and, in order to protect it, a 12-pdr QF and one of the decoy guns were removed from Fort Camden. They were returned to the fort when the war ended. [17]


The immediate aftermath of the First World War posed a political problem: Home Rule for Ireland, which had been agreed in 1914 but suspended for the duration of the war. The whole matter was mishandled from the start as the British Government never gave sufficient thought or attention to the problem until 1921. The result was a guerrilla war between the Irish Nationalists and the British. Cork was a major centre of nationalist activity. A truce was called to the fighting in July 1921 which was followed by negotiations that resulted in the signing of the treaty that established the Irish Free State as a dominion. By a clause in the treaty the harbour defences at Cork, Berehaven and Lough Swilly were to remain in the control of British government [18] and became known as the Treaty Ports. They were to become an irritant to Anglo-Irish relations during the inter-war years. The defences at the Treaty Ports could not be extended or repositioned without the consent of the Free State government and whether they could be used during hostilities depended on that government's attitude at the appropriate time.


The dockyard at Haulbowline Island was handed over to the Irish Government in 1923. The harbour defences were garrisoned by regular troops, but little was done to the forts beyond maintaining the existing armament. Some changes came in 1929 when the two old 6-inch guns at Fort Camden were scrapped and two 12-pdr QF guns in the Right Upper Battery were transferred to the practice battery at Fort Templebreedy which became known as Laughorne Battery. [191 The remaining two 12-pdrQFgunsinNo 1 Battery at Fort Carlisle were dismounted and the battery was renamed Marlborough Battery. At Forts Westmoreland and Templebreedy the existing guns were replaced by guns of more recent manufacture. Cork Harbour was classed as a commercial port and a naval anchorage of 'minor importance', which no doubt contributed to the defences being maintained with the existing armament. [20]


Each of the forts had a mobile armament which consisted of Lewis, Vickers and 18-pdr field guns distributed as follows:

In 1924, the garrison totalled 32 officers and 425 NCOs and other ranks. [21] By 1938, the garrison was 400 strong and the Lewis guns had been removed from the mobile armament.


During the inter war years the value of maintaining the Treaty Ports was considered on a number of occasions by the British Defence Chiefs. In a potential war with Germany, the Royal Navy required Cork Harbour as a base for anti-submarine units and minesweepers to cover the western approaches. If Cork Harbour was not available for any reason, anti-submarine units could be used from existing bases in England, but because of the extra distance to be covered, would only be able to patrol for a shorter time and distance as compared to operating out of Cork. If the potential enemy was France, Cork Harbour and Berehaven were required as bases for the fleet.



Fort Camden Entrance, flanking gallery in the middle and casemated battery on the right.	Fort Camden, Left Lower Battery. Moncrief positions with latter 12 pdr QF concrete bases and stairs.	Fort Camden. Casemated Barracks	Fort Camden. Dock with submarine mining establishment & to the right, the site of the Brennan Torpedo position.




There was a new factor to be considered in the defence arrangements for the Treaty Ports: both ships and existing facilities at the Ports were vulnerable to air attack which had not been sufficiently foreseen when the Treaty Ports were reserved to Britain. All three Ports required adequate air protection, yet it was impossible to construct airfields with their ancillary equipment within the confines of the forts or War Department property. Also, there was no suitable terrain for the construction of airfields within a reasonable distance of each Port, especially Berehaven.


There was the attitude of the Free State government to be considered, in any future conflict. If it was hostile, then the Treaty Ports could not be used to their full advantage, unless the surrounding hinterland had been seized and occupied which would entail using troops that could be better used elsewhere. Any occupation would alienate the majority of the people in the Free State and would necessitate the Treaty Ports having to be supplied by sea rather than by land.


In the light of all these considerations, the advice of the Defence Chiefs to successive governments was the establishing of friendly relations with the Irish Free State with a view that, in time, a satisfactory agreement on the use of the Treaty Ports, especially in time of war, could be concluded.


The political uncertainty that overhung the Treaty Ports affected their priority for modernisation. Only at Berehaven were new defences planned with new weapons but nothing materialised. At Cork, no new weapons were envisaged. Instead all the 12-pdr QF were removed from the approved armament and relegated to practice status. [22]


With their advent to power in 1932, the Fianna Fail Party, with de Valera as prime minister, adopted a policy of severing ties with and distancing the Free State from the United Kingdom. This resulted in a period of strained relations between the two governments. A new constitution was introduced in 1937, whereby the Free State, now called Eire, became a republic in all but name. As de Valera laid claim to the Treaty Ports, as well as Northern Ireland, he was not prepared to enter into any defence agreement with the United Kingdom. The most that he was prepared to offer was a declaration that Eire would not allow itself to be used as a base for attacks on the United Kingdom.


The impasse was broken in March 1938, when the British government announced that the Treaty Ports would be returned to Eire unconditionally by the end of the year. [23] In May, the British and Irish military authorities met to discuss what equipment was to be handed over. As far as the Cork Harbour defences were concerned, Fort Templebreedy presented a problem because both the 9.2-inch guns were unserviceable: one had steel choke and the other a cracked tube. The War Office agreed to repair the gun with steel choke by the date of handover of the defences and replace the other gun with the reserve one from South Battery at Fort Carlisle by the end of the year. The harbour defences at Cork were taken over by the Irish authorities on 11 July 1938 when de Valera, his son and the Irish Military chiefs were present to take part in the handover ceremony.


At Cork the armament taken over was:

Also taken over were the searchlights below each of the four forts and some obsolete 12-pdr QF guns. Just prior to the takeover of the forts, the Irish Army formed its own coast artillery service with headquarters at Spike Island. By October, the service consisted of six coast batteries, three of which were based at Cork, together with the headquarters on Spike Island. It had been agreed with the War Office that a cadre of three officers, eighteen NCOs and six other ranks should remain in Ireland to assist in the training of the coast artillery personnel.


Within a year of the handover of the Treaty Ports, the Second World War broke out and Eire decided to remain neutral but, nonetheless, the army was mobilised which included the coast artillery. During the war there were a number of changes in the defences. At Fort Templebreedy a dummy 9.2-inch position was built to the south of the fort, whilst the two 12-pdr QF guns were transferred to Fort Carlisle. [24] The biggest change was at Fort Westmoreland where the 6-inch battery at No 3 Bastion was dispersed. One gun was mounted in a casemated position in No 4 Bastion and the other in a similar position in No 2 Bastion, to give greater protection against air and sea attack. A new battery observation post was built in front of and below the old one. The work was carried out by the Irish Army Engineers, between December 1942 and March 1944, when both guns were mounted. The magazines built for the old 6-inch guns, mounted in Bastions 2 and 4 at the turn of the century, were utilised for the casemated guns. Also mounted on the ramparts of the old fort were four anti-aircraft guns. [25]


In the early years of the war because of heavy losses in merchant shipping due to U-boats operating in the Atlantic, there was continuous pressure, exerted by Winston Churchill, to seize the former Treaty Ports by force. However, it was estimated that for this to be carried out at least ten divisions would have had to be deployed and a force of that size was impossible to provide in those years because of more pressing commitments. Such a force had to be used as any invasion of Eire would have to be carried out against a hostile population.


As Eire was neutral, Germany maintained full diplomatic relations and did so throughout the war. Any collaboration between the Irish and British military authorities had to be done in secret. Collaboration did take place in co-ordinating potential anti-invasion measures.


Eire would not permit any part of the country to be used in the prosecution of the war and this included the former Treaty Ports. If Eire was invaded by Germany, then she would immediately request British assistance and plans were prepared for this to be done initially from Northern Ireland. Because the Irish Regular Army was only 8000 men strong, with little modern equipment, [26] the British feared that the country would be overrun before adequate assistance could be forthcoming. The British Chiefs of Staff anticipated that the Germans would launch a combined airborne and naval attack, such as had been done successfully in Norway. With hindsight such an attack was unlikely. The Germans had suffered heavy losses in ships during the Norwegian campaign and were in no position to mount such an ambitious naval operation.


From the plans and discussions that took place during the war about Eire, two interesting factors emerge: that the British Chiefs of Staff did not require the old Treaty Ports with their run-down and obsolescent facilities, except perhaps Lough Swilly. What was required was a base on the River Shannon, should the Irish be prepared to grant such a facility. The Shannon was ideally situated to combat the U-boat menace, to protect the Atlantic trade route and to give a greater degree of protection to Eire itself. It was envisaged that capital ships and aircraft carriers would be based on the River and because the hinterland was flat aerodromes could be built so that aircraft could patrol further into the Atlantic and cover the south-west approaches. [27]


The Irish themselves took up the idea of defending the Shannon. Fort Shannon was constructed in 1942 at Ardmore Point and mounted two 6-inch naval guns, [28] with three searchlights and was manned by personnel posted from the Cork Harbour Defences. The fort was closed in 1946, the guns dismounted [29] and eventually taken to the Dunree Military Museum in Co. Donegal where they can be seen today.


When the war ended, in 1945, the Irish Army was reduced to peacetime strength. Fort Templebreedy was dismantled in 1946, all the stores and ammunition were taken to Spike Island and the guns put into care and maintenance. After a number of years had elapsed, the guns were dismounted and scrapped. The Coast Defence Service was dissolved in 1949, though the two 6-inch guns at Rupert's Tower Battery were used for training and practice by the Irish Army Artillery for a good many years.

Fort Templebreedy. A:- Kilcotta Battery (6 inch BL), B:- Templebreedy Battery (9.2 inch Mk.X BL.), C:- Practice Battery. (WO78/5200)

Fort Templebreedy was built to the south of Weaver Point between 1904 and 1909. In the latter year the two 9.2-inch guns were mounted in the fort. The work consists of two concrete batteries one for 9.2-inch guns and the other for two 6-inch guns which were never mounted. This later battery was known as Kilcolta Battery. In between these two batteries was an extensive practice battery for six guns which is now covered over by vegetation. It is believed that Laughome Battery was part of this site. In the cliffs to the north-east of the battery was a further practice battery for QF guns which probably no longer exists due to erosion. On either side of the battery were two searchlights together with their engine house. At the entrance to the fort is the caretaker's quarters and opposite is the engine room and oil store covered by an earthen embankment apart from its front face. Nearby was the Post War Signal Station and Fire Command building which has now gone. This northern part of the fort, including Kilcolta Battery, has been laid out as a pitch and put course. At the southern end of the site is the 9.2-inch battery with its empty emplacements, underground magazines and shelters. Immediately behind the gun positions is a raised embankment with the fire command post built into it. A few buildings remain of the hutted camp used by the Irish Naval Service.

Fort Camden site plan (WO78/5200)

Fort Camden is positioned on Rams Head covering the harbour entrance with Fort Carlisle opposite. The road to the fort is covered by the casemated barracks on its immediate approach to the entrance where it crosses a deep rock cut ditch that reaches to the water's edge and is covered by a two-tiered musketry gallery in the casemated barracks. Immediately across the ditch is the entrance to the fort with the guardhouse to the right. The casemated barracks occupy the north-east comer of the fort. It is single storey with provision for artillery on the roof, mounted in three sections, with two expense magazines acting as traverses, each section containing positions for two guns and tiered from west to east. The roof is currently overgrown, both the magazines survive and it is the only section of the ramparts where the individual gun positions are distinguishable, helped by the embrasures.


The terreplein, covering the landward side of the fort, continues in an arc from the north-west to the south with some five expense magazines which can just be made out in the vegetation and these are shown on the plans. It is apparent from the plans that there were no fixed positions for the guns, but a movable armament was provided for the terreplein with two gun ramps. The landward side is surrounded by a deep ditch 40 feet deep and 28 feet wide. This is covered at the centre point by a two-storied caponier for a total of eight guns with flanking musketry galleries in the usual fashion. As can be seen from the armament returns, four of the special 32-pdr SBBL guns were shown as being mounted in the caponier at the turn of the century. The ditch, on reaching the southern corner of the fort, slopes sharply down to the shore. At the point where the ditch starts to descent to the shore there is a musketry gallery to cover a possible ascent from the water.


At the southern corner of the fort is another section ofcasemated barrack and it is from here that steps lead down to the flanking gallery that covers the ditch. Within the area enclosed by the ramparts is the main body of the fort, with free standing store and barrack buildings for officers and men one of which now houses the caretaker. Various hutments survive some in better condition than others. In the centre is the caphouse containing the spiral staircase that goes down to the underground magazine which consists of one large vaulted chamber. In this upper tier of the fort there are three gun batteries. Left Upper Battery, originally built for three 7-inch RMLs and later reconstructed for two 6-inch guns that later became the dummy or decoy guns. Right Upper Battery originally built for three 10-inch RMLs and later reconstructed for three 12-pdr QF guns with one of the RML positions surviving intact. On the southern flank of this battery and at a higher level is Upper Practice Battery for two guns.


From the Left Upper Battery a zig-zag traverse leads down to the lower tier of the fort and the dock, the approach to which is covered by a musketry gallery. Approximately 150 yards from the dock, in a north westerly direction, is the site of the Brennan Torpedo installation, the rooms or chambers for the machinery are extant and built into the cliff with traces of the rails leading into the water. Just before reaching the dock, there is an impressive vaulted gateway that leads to the Left Lower Battery where there were three 7-inch RML guns on Moncrieff mountings. This is very obvious, even though, when the battery was reconstructed each emplacement was filled with concrete for a 12-pdr QF. Passing behind the gun line and through another vaulted entrance is the casemated Right Lower Battery for four 10-inch RMLs complete with armoured shields and sloping iron frontages. Above this battery in its northern flank is the very overgrown remains of the minefield battery for three 6-pdr QF guns. In front of the Right Lower Battery, just above sea level was a musketry parapet to prevent escalade. Later, two searchlight positions were built just behind the parapet to work in conjunction with the QF guns and the searchlights at Fort Carlisle.

Fort Carlisle. Panoramic view from Fort Camden cont. View of the four Victoria Batteries below & the breach loading batteries on the ridge above.
Fort Carlisle. General view of the Old Fort.	Fort Carlisle. Rupert's Tower Battery, 6 inch MkVII gun.	Fort Carlisle, South Battery. General view of the two 9.2 inch Mk.X gun positions	Fort Carlisle, South Battery. View of one of the 9.2 inch emplacements with Rupert's Tower Battery 6 inch gun beyond.

Fort Carlisle site plan. A:- No. 1 Battery, B:- No.2 Battery, C:- No. 3 Battery, D:- No.4 Battery, E:- South Battery, F:- Rupert's Tower Battery, G:- North Battery, H:- Old Fort.(WO78/3312)

On the eastern side of the harbour entrance is White Bay. To the north, in a protruding headland, lies Fort Carlisle. A ditch some thirty feet deep and forty feet wide along the headland cuts the fort off on the landward side. The ditch is covered by three single storey musketry caponiers built of concrete. These are plain and utilitarian compared with the caponier at Fort Camden and those at contemporary English forts. The terreplein is simple in construction, even though overgrown, and could easily accommodate the movable armament allotted to the fort. Fort Carlisle is in essence an enclosed position for eight separate gun batteries, a mid-nineteenth century equivalent of Fort Amherst. The only core is the Napoleonic fort at the northern end just inside the entrance. The Napoleonic work is of triangular shape with one full bastion, two demi-bastions and a semi-circular one, which originally contained the main seaward firing battery, and is now a saluting battery with three 12-pdr QF guns.


Beside the southern demi-bastion of the old fort a zig-zag traverse leads down to the lower level of the fort with the majority of the Victorian batteries. The first battery is No 1 originally armed with four 7-inch RML guns on Moncrieff mountings. Later, the battery was reconstructed to take three 12-pdr QF guns and the shield for one of them still survives. The battery was covered with a layer of concrete over the top of each open pit with the gun positioned on top. The old magazines were utilised for the QF guns. On leaving the battery there is a short vaulted tunnel with a flight of stairs that leads to No 2 Battery which is a casemated one for two 10-inch RML guns firing through armoured shields. On passing through the tunnel is No 3 Battery for four 7-inch RMLs on Moncrieff mountings. The Battery was never altered and the emplacements remain open and can be entered. There are short side tunnels connecting the emplacements with each other with the usual magazines leading off.


On leaving No 3 Battery and, through another vaulted tunnel. No 4 Battery is reached. Originally casemated for four 10-inch RML guns firing through armoured shields, the battery was later converted to an oil store. From behind No 3 Battery a long flight of steps leads to the upper level of the fort, where the breech loading batteries were built. This is also the level on which the Napoleonic fort was constructed.


To the south of the old fort is North Battery for two 6-inch guns. The emplacements are clearly visible but the underground magazine stores and shelters are buried. Continuing south- wards is Rupert's Tower Battery, built originally for two 12-inch RML guns and later remodelled for two 6-inch mark VII guns, which still remain in position with the DRF and fire command positions built on the bank overlooking the battery. Adjacent to Rupert's Tower Battery, the fort is divided internally by a ditch that reaches to the shoreline. The ditch is covered by a flanking gallery where it changes direction to the shoreline to prevent an assault directly from the water. On the south side of the ditch lies South Battery for two 9.2-inch guns, complete with underground shelters and magazine, whilst on the bank behind the Battery are the command post and position finding cell. At the southern end of the promontory the external ditch culminates in another flanking gallery.

Fort Westmoreland site plan. A & B:- Casemated positions for 6 inch BL MkVII guns, C:- Searchlight position, D:- Magazine, E:- Detention Barracks, F:- Barack Blocks. (WO78/5200)

Fort Westmoreland occupies the high ground on Spike Island. It is a regular six bastioned work surrounded by a ditch. Originally, there were two entrances on the northern side with the main armament mounted on the southern side, in bastions 2,3 and 4. On the northern side there were two sets of casemates. They linked bastions 5, 6 and 1 and it was these that the Royal Commission recommended be completed when they incorporated the fort into the defences. The casemates are now the cells of the prison establishment that occupies the fort. The entrance gateway is in a plain classical style without ornament or decoration. Two barrack blocks on the western side of the fort remain as shells, but the old military detention block and the main magazine remain intact in No 6 Bastion. Other internal buildings survive and these are used by the prison administration. It was No 3 Bastion that contained the main armament of the fort. This was originally three 12-inch RML guns which were later replaced by two 6-inch mark VII guns. Due to the alterations made by the Irish Army during the war and security arrangements by the prison authorities, nothing remains of these positions. On Bastions 2 and 4 can be seen the casemates for a 6-inch mark VII gun constructed by the Irish Army during the war with the added bonus of a 6-inch gun in each casemate. Underneath, the old magazines and stores were adapted to serve the guns.


After the Irish authorities took over the harbour forts in July 1938, the official names of three of them were changed: Fort Camden became Fort Meagher, Fort Carlisle became Fort Davis and Fort Westmoreland became Fort Mitchel. There is no automatic right of public access to any of the forts and the official names must be borne in mind when applying for permission to visit. Fort Camden is owned by Cork County Council, who have a caretaker residing on site; Forts Carlisle and Templebreedy are owned by the Department of Defence, whilst Fort Westmoreland is owned by the Department of Justice.

Fort Westmoreland, Bastion 2, Casemated position with 6 inch gun.	Fort Westmoreland, Barrack Block.	Fort Westmoreland, Bastion No. 2. Interior of 6 inch gun casemate.	Fort Westmoreland, Magazine.

Acknowledgements

The writer wishes to acknowledge his debt to the following institutions and individuals without whose help and assistance this paper could not have been written:-


The Irish Department of Defence and The Irish Department of Justice in Dublin, Cork County Council, Commandant V Laing, Military Archives in Dublin, The Governor and Deputy Governor, Fort Mitchel Prison, Captain D Harvey, 23rd Infantry Battalion in Cork, Lieutenants S O'Brien and S Walsh, Irish Naval Service in Cork and Mr Patrick Woods.


In preparing this article the author also used information from the following sources:


Paul M. Kerrigan, Castles and Fortifications in Ireland 1485 to 1945, N. Brunicardi, Haulbowline Spike and Rocky Islands, the Public Record Office at Kew and the Ministry of Defence Library at Whitehall in London and the Cathal Brugha Barracks in Dublin.

Appendix

Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, dated the Sixth Day of December, Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-One.

1 Ireland shall have the constitutional status in the Community of Nations known as the British Empire as the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa, with a Parliament having powers to make laws for the peace order and good government of Ireland and an Executive responsible to that Parliament, and shall be styled and known as the Irish Free State.


6. Until an arrangement has been made between the British and Irish Governments whereby the Irish Free State undertakes her own coastal defence, the defence by sea of Great Britain and Ireland shall be undertaken by His Majesty's Imperial Forces, but this shall not prevent the construction or maintenance by the Government of the Irish Free State of such vessels as are necessary for the protection of the Revenue or the Fisheries.


The foregoing provisions of this article shall be reviewed at a conference of Representatives of the British and Irish Governments to be held at the expiration of five years from the date hereof, with a view to the undertaking by Ireland of a share in her own coastal defence.


7. The Government of the Irish Free State shall afford to His Majesty's Imperial Forces:

(a) In times of peace, such harbour and other facilities as are indicated in the Annex hereto, or such other facilities as may from time to time be agreed between the British Government and the Government of the Irish Free State; and


(b) In times of war or of strained relations with a Foreign Power, such harbour and other facilities as the British Government may require for the purposes of such defence as aforesaid.





Annex


The following are the specific facilities required:


Dockyard Port at Berehaven


(a) Admiralty property and rights to be retained as at the date hereof. Harbour defences to remain in charge of British care and maintenance parties.


Queenstown


(b) Harbour defences to remain in charge of British care and maintenance parties. Certain mooring buoys to be retained for use of His Majesty's ships.

Belfast Lough


(c) Harbour defences to remain in charge of British care and maintenance parties.


Lough Swilly


(d) Harbour defences to remain in charge of British care and maintenance parties.


Aviation


(e) Facilities in the neighbourhood of the above ports for coastal defence by air.


Oil Fuel Storage


(f) Haulbowline


Rathmullen


To be offered for sale to commercial companies under guarantee that purchasers shall maintain a certain minimum stock for Admiralty purposes.
[sl(l) Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922].

Footnotes

lan V Stevenson is a civil servant who lives and works near Southampton in Hampshire. He has had an interest in military history and fortification for over forty-five years with a bias towards the nineteenth century. He is the Archivist of the Palmerston Forts Society and on occasion contributes to The Redan, the Society's journal. He is currently researching and collecting material on a number of different subjects relating to nineteenth centnry fortification.

Fortress Study Group is a registered charity No. 288790.