Cove Fort, County Cork
| Cove Fort | |
|---|---|
| Near Land battery, barracks, military hospital | |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1743 |
| In use | Until 19th century (as battery & barracks), 20th century (as hospital) |
Cove Fort is a small
land battery to the east of Cobh in County Cork
, Ireland.
Built as a Vice-Admiral of the Coast,[2][3] it replaced a number of temporary coastal artillery batteries which defended Cork Harbour.[4]
The seaward fortifications included a
shipping channel and defending the naval yards at Haulbowline.[5][6] While the landward walls included musketry flanking-galleries,[4] later 18th century reports criticised the fact that the fort was overlooked by higher ground to the rear and that planned landward bastion defences had not been built. A 1763 report recorded the fort as having a number of 24-pounder long guns,[4] and a later survey by Charles Vallancey records a small detachment of Royal Irish Artillery at the site.[4] By 1811 there were 20 or more 24-pounder guns in place.[7]
In the 19th century the harbour's other defences were expanded at
Fort Westmoreland (Spike Island), Fort Carlisle (Whitegate), and Fort Camden (Crosshaven), and by the end of the Napoleonic Wars Cove Fort came to house a naval and military hospital.[4][8] By the 1830s the site was largely given-over to this use, and though used as a barracks, was no longer used primarily for battery defence.[9]
The "Queenstown Military Hospital" remained in operation until after World War I.
The area of the fort now houses a
RMS Titanic's last port of call.[12] The memorial garden has a line-of-sight to the last anchorage point of the Titanic, close to Roche's Point at the mouth of the harbour.[13]
See also
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cove Fort, County Cork.
- ^ "Buildings of Ireland – Cove Fort". National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
- ISBN 9781856356213.
- ^ "Bishop Roche Park / Cove Fort". Visitor information signage at the fort. Cobh Town Council / Fáilte Ireland / NDP. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
- ^ ISBN 1898256128.
- ISBN 9780233991504.
- ^ George Holmes (1797). Sketches of the Southern Counties of Ireland. p. 167.
- ISBN 9781781491157.
- ^ "Notes on the History of Haulbowline". The Irish Sword. VII. Military History Society of Ireland: 30. 1965.
- ISBN 9780806310633.
- ^ "Cobh to honour Titanic passengers". Cork Independent. 10 April 2014.
- ^ "Titanic memorial garden to open in Cobh". Irish Examiner. 7 April 2014.
- ^ "Titanic Memorial Garden opens in Cobh". TheCork.ie. 11 April 2014.
- ^ "Cobh Titanic Memorial Garden". VisitCobh.com. 25 April 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
Situated within Cove Fort, the newly opened garden [...] overlooks the final anchorage of RMS Titanic at the mouth of Cork Harbour