Fort Victoria, Bermuda

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Coordinates: 32°23′27″N 64°40′28″W / 32.3907°N 64.6744°W / 32.3907; -64.6744
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Fort Victoria
BL 9.2 inch gun Mk X at Fort Victoria, circa 1995.
LocationSt. George's Garrison, St. George's Island, Bermuda
Coordinates32°23′27″N 64°40′28″W / 32.3907°N 64.6744°W / 32.3907; -64.6744
Built1842
Europe and North America
Fort Victoria, Bermuda is located in Bermuda
Fort Victoria, Bermuda
Location of Fort Victoria in Bermuda

Fort Victoria is a disused

British colony of Bermuda
.

The fort shares its hilltop location with Fort Albert, and the pair were named after Her Majesty

Prince Albert. Both forts were built in 1842, on the suggestion of Colonel Edward Fanshawe, Royal Engineers, as part of the Bermuda Garrison built up by the British Army to defend the Royal Naval Dockyard and other strategic assets in Bermuda.[1] The only channel through the reefline surrounding the archipelago that is suitable for large vessels passes the North-East ends of St. David's and St. George's Islands, which are at the East End of the archipelago of Bermuda. For this reason, the bulk of the nearly a hundred forts and gun batteries built in Bermuda between 1612 and 1939 are located on the eastern coasts of these two islands, and on Paget Island and the Castle Islands Fortifications, on smaller islands between St. George's and St. David's, and St. David's and the Main Island respectively.[2][3]

Forts Victoria and Albert overlook

Royal Artillery
base, serving the various coastal artillery detachments in the East End forts and batteries.

Fort Victoria was originally armed with eighteen 32 pounder

St. David's Battery on St. David's Island, which received two in 1910).[4]

In April 1941 the

6-inch guns with a casemated magazine between them (called Battery Construction Number 284) were also installed by 1943. The railway guns were withdrawn in 1944.[7]

St. George's Garrison (and St. George's Town) as surveyed by Lieutenant AJ Savage, RE, in 1897-1899. Retreat Hill, with Forts Victoria and Albert, is at top-centre.

St. George's Garrison, with most of the other remaining Admiralty and War Office land in Bermuda was transferred to the colonial government in 1957. Forts Victoria and Albert were included in property leased to a succession of hotel operators (Holiday Inn, Loew's, and Club Med), which were permitted to damage the structures to create recreational areas for guests, including demolishing the keep of Fort Victoria. The hotel building itself, after years of sitting vacant, was removed by explosives in 2008, which badly damaged Fort Victoria.

The sole 9.2-inch gun that had been remaining at Fort Victoria was moved to the Royal Naval Dockyard for installation at the

Bermuda Maritime Museum in The Keep, the largest fort in Bermuda,[8] where it was emplaced (though not on its mount) for display in 2021, after eleven years of storage.[9][10]

As a result of their historical significance, with fortifications spanning the full four centuries of English settlement in the New World, the forts at the East End of Bermuda, together with St. George's Town (or the Town of St. George), have been made a UNESCO

Historic Town of St George and Related Fortifications).[11]

References

  1. ISBN 0-9696517-1-6
  2. ISBN 978-0-921560-11-1
  3. ISBN 978-0-921560-00-5
  4. ^ Bermuda Attractions: Fort Albert & Fort Victoria in Bermuda
  5. ^ "Forbes, Keith Archibald, American Military Bases in Bermuda from 1941 to 1995". Archived from the original on 9 November 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  6. ^ Stanton, p. 458
  7. ^ Berhow, p. 225
  8. ^ "Gun on the move". The Royal Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda. 20 August 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2023. – The newspaper's website was re-organised, with the original dates lost from most articles, both from the text on the page and from the original url, replaced with erroneous dates in 2011 (in this case, the original url is: http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20090820/NEWS/308209994)
  9. ^ "The Big Gun gets new home after renovation work". The Royal Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda. 4 November 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  10. ^ "Historic battery finds a new home in Dockyard". Bermuda sun. 12 August 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Historic Town of St George and Related Fortifications, Bermuda". Unesco. Retrieved 8 August 2014.

Bibliography

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