Reasons for Designation
The Royal Commission fortifications are a group of related sites established
in response to the 1859 Royal Commission report on the defence of the United
Kingdom. This had been set up following an invasion scare caused by the
strengthening of the French Navy.
These fortifications represented the largest maritime defence programme since
the initiative of Henry VIII in 1539-40. The programme built upon the
defensive works already begun at Plymouth and elsewhere and recommended the
improvement of existing fortifications as well as the construction of new
ones.
There were eventually some 70 forts and batteries in England which were due
wholly or in part to the Royal Commission. These constitute a well defined
group with common design characteristics, armament and defensive provisions.
Whether reused or not during the 20th century, they are the most visible core
of Britain's coastal defence systems and are known colloquially as
`Palmerston's follies'. All examples are considered of national importance.
Details
The monument includes Eggbuckland Keep, a defended barracks complex which
formed part of the north eastern section of the mid-19th century land
defences for the naval dockyard of Plymouth. The keep occupies the highest
point of the north eastern section of the defences which encircled the
Plymouth harbourage and which were intended to protect it from land attack in
the event of invasion. The keep lies above and to the rear of the
contemporary Bowden and Forder Batteries and Austin Fort. The standing
building of Eggbuckland Keep is a Listed Building Grade II*.
Fears of a French invasion of Britain in the middle years of the 19th century
led to the formation of a Royal Commission in 1859 to consider the defences
of the United Kingdom. The Royal Commission's recommendations for Plymouth
were acted upon by Major W F D Jervois and resulted in the completion by 1872
of six new coast batteries and a ring of eighteen land forts and batteries
based on three principal forts at Staddon, and Crownhill on the Devon side,
and Tregantle on the Cornish side of the harbour. The land forts were linked
by a system of military roads protected from the likely direction of attack
by earth banks and cuttings.
Eggbuckland Keep, which was designed by Captain Du Cane under the general
supervision of Major Jervois, was the only fortified keep to be built on the
north eastern section of the defences, although four such keeps were
originally proposed for this stretch of the line. It was also the only
detached keep to be built as part of the Plymouth defences although the fort
at Tregantle in Cornwall, also designed by Du Cane, has a keep within its
enceinte. The Eggbuckland keep lies about midway between the large fort at
Crownhill and the River Plym and it was intended as a defensible barracks
housing 230 men with ample storeroom for powder and shells and was to provide
cover for the rear of Forder Battery and to be the main barrack and magazine
for Forder, Bowden Battery to the west, and Austin Fort to the south east.
Access to the keep was via a single road from the north west sited in a
cutting to protect it from incoming fire. A wide glacis formed part of the
original defences but this has disappeared under modern housing. However, the
keep survives as a standing five-sided, two-storey building constructed
within a deep depression and surrounded by a wide, flat-bottomed, rock-cut
ditch which was provided with a counterscarp wall fronting the main entrance;
a section of the south eastern corner of this wall was removed in the latter
part of the 20th century. Four loop-holed musketry caponiers (bombproof
vaulted chambers) extend at right angles across the ditch to allow enfilading
fire along its length. The main entrance, which was provided with an
architectural flourish in the Romanesque style, was further protected by a
loop-holed parapet wall running the full length of the building on the south
west side; the limestone ashlar rifle-loops have at some stage been blocked
by bricking-in. Loops were also sited to flank the doorway and drawbridge on
the eastern face of the building which provided access to a tunnel linking to
Forder Battery. Although the drawbridge no longer survives, its ashlar recess
survives as an intact feature together with its original winching chains. The
keep is constructed of local stone with all quoins, windows, doorways, and
loops in a contrasting ashlar or finely dressed and tooled light grey
limestone. Within, there is copious brick vaulting throughout which provides
support for the floorings and the roof. The lower floor of the keep, which
sits on the same level as the base of the ditch, has an arrangement with
barrack accommodation placed along the outer side of a central corridor
whilst store rooms were sited on the inner side. The lower floor also
accommodates a large ammunition store which has a brick-vaulted lighting
passage running behind it with original lamp recesses now devoid of their
thickened glass. Access to all four caponiers was via rooms or passages on
the lower floor. The upper floor mirrors the barracks and stores arrangement
of the lower floor. A passage on the upper floor allowed access to the
drawbridge over the ditch leading to Forder Tunnel by which means the troops
could be deployed under cover to Forder Battery and Fort Austin. Two spiral
staircases on opposite sides of the building provided access between the
floors and to roof level. The flat roof is earth-covered; the earth is about
3m deep where it is formed into ramparts to act as bomb-proofing; the
ramparts are found on all sides except that which overlooks the military road
and main entrance where there is instead a walkway behind the loop-holed
parapet wall. Separate stairs lead down from the roof to two magazines which
are sited under earthwork traverses on the north west and south east sides of
the building.
Following its completion in 1872, Eggbuckland Keep was recommended to receive
an armament of five 7 inch Rifled Breech-Loading (BRL) guns but by 1885 these
had still not been supplied and no evidence for their emplacements has been
identified. However, by 1893 three 0.45 inch machine-guns had been installed
presumably on the rampart.
Several buildings constructed on the roof of the keep are believed to date
from World War II but their history is not known.
A number of features are excluded from the scheduling. These are: the
standing building of Eggbuckland Keep and its later roof top structures
(although the foundations and ground beneath the keep building is included),
all modern surfacings, fencing, and all fixed structures demonstrably of
post-World War II date, where any of these features lie within the scheduling
surrounding the keep, although the fabric and the ground beneath these
features is included.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
33047
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals Other
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official list entry
