Dale Fort

Dale Fort
Dale Fort
Dale, Pembrokeshire, Wales
	Dale Fort study centre
	Dale Fort
Site information
Open to; the public	No
Condition	Complete
Site history
Built	c 1851–56
In use	Field studies centre
Materials	Stone

Dale Fort is a mid-19th-century

fort at Dale Head, a rocky promontory near Dale, Pembrokeshire, west of Milford Haven in Wales. It is one of the centres run by Field Studies Council

and offers residential and non-residential fieldwork for schools, colleges and universities, holiday accommodation and professional and leisure courses in natural history and arts.

History

Although there was a proposal for an

Pneumatic Dynamite Gun

in the 1890s, but the design was not adopted.

In 1902, the fort was sold to

A-Level biologists working on the nearby shores to understand ecology.^{[citation needed}

]

The fort occupies the easternmost end of the promontory; it is protected by a ditch cut into the rock, which extends across the promontory and down to the shoreline on either side. The landward (western) side of the fort facing the ditch consists of a loopholed wall, in the centre of which is a D-shaped bastion with embrasures for three guns. In the northwest corner is a defensible building of three ranges. The central one facing the ditch consists of guardrooms, between which the main entrance of the fort passes in a passageway, having crossed the ditch by means of a bridge. The northern range is a barracks for the ordinary soldiers and the southern range contains various storerooms. Further along the northern edge is the officers' quarters and the main magazine, now with a modern accommodation building over it. The gun battery is at the eastern end of the fort on the cliffs overlooking the haven. There are seven positions intended for 68-pounder guns firing en barbette (i.e. on open mountings firing over a parapet), the southernmost four being on a higher level than the other three. Originally there was an expense magazine to support these positions, but it has been demolished. The site of the Dynamite Gun position is close to the present dining area, towards the north of the fort.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Dale (Point) Fort" (PDF). www.victorianforts.co.uk. Victorian Forts and Artillery. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
^ From a photograph included in the "Victorian Forts and Artillery" reference.
^ Reports from Commissioners: Sixteen Volumes: Coal Mines, Inland Revenue, Post Office, Ordnance Survey, Defences of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO), London 1860 (Report commencing p. 431 – p. xxxix of the report)
^ Brief History and Handbook to Nature Reserves: West Wales Naturalists' Trust. 1975

External links

51°42′12″N 5°09′07″W / 51.70320°N 5.15202°W / 51.70320; -5.15202

[victorianforts-1] "Dale (Point) Fort" (PDF). www.victorianforts.co.uk. Victorian Forts and Artillery. Retrieved 27 May 2016.

[2] From a photograph included in the "Victorian Forts and Artillery" reference.

[3] Reports from Commissioners: Sixteen Volumes: Coal Mines, Inland Revenue, Post Office, Ordnance Survey, Defences of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO), London 1860 (Report commencing p. 431 – p. xxxix of the report)

[4] Brief History and Handbook to Nature Reserves: West Wales Naturalists' Trust. 1975

[1]

History

Description

References

External links