Casemate barracks

Summary

Casemate barrack block for Whitsand Bay Battery, constructed between 1888 and 1894. Altered and extended in the late 20th century and early 21st century; now a bar and restaurant. The early-C21 extension to the north-east is excluded from the List entry.

Reasons for Designation

The casemate barrack block at Whitsand Bay Battery, Cornwall is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as bombproof casemates built in the late 1880s as part of Whitsand Bay Battery, their red brick vaulted ceilings given extra protection by being built into the battery’s central rampart;
* the glass and timber screens on the north elevation display a good level of craftmanship and attention to detail.

Historic interest:

* as the accommodation provision for the gunners at Whitsand Bay Battery, which was constructed from 1888 to defend the port and dockyards at Plymouth as part of a second phase of military construction following the 1860 Royal Commission report.

Group value:

* with the contemporaneous Whitsand Bay Battery, and the slightly-later Whitsand Bay Practice Battery to the south, both of which are scheduled monuments.

History

Prompted by an uncertain relationship with Napoleon III’s France during the 1850s, the Royal Commission on the Defences of the United Kingdom was established by Lord Palmerston in 1860. The Royal Commission’s report resulted in a comprehensive scheme of construction of new defences and fortifications to safeguard the Royal Naval Dockyards. Around 70 forts and batteries were constructed up to 1872, including those for the defence of the port of Plymouth, and they represent the largest maritime defence programme since the initiatives of Henry VIII in 1539-1540. They are the most visible of Britain’s coastal defence systems and are known colloquially as Palmerston’s follies. The forts had common design characteristics, armament and defensive provisions. The term battery refers to any place where artillery is positioned to allow guns to cover a particular area such as a line of communication or the approaches to a defended location. Although often contained within artillery forts designed to withstand sieges, typically including resident garrisons, many batteries were lightly defended and only manned at fighting strength in times of emergency. In the late C19, advances in shipping and the range of weapons motivated a further programme of building to achieve continued defence against long-range bombardment.

Above Whitsand Bay and about four miles to the south-west of Plymouth, lies Whitsand Bay Battery, which was built in the late C19 as Raleigh Battery. The battery was constructed to prevent warships anchoring in the bay and attacking the naval dockyard at Devonport in Plymouth with high-angle fire. Whitsand Bay Battery was proposed in 1885; building began after summer 1888 and the emplacements were probably complete by 1890. Plans of the battery are signed by Colonel F Mascall, Commissioning Royal Engineer, Plymouth Sub-District, and it was built by WT Jinkin of Plymouth. The battery was surrounded by a ditch with a concrete revetment wall and three caponiers (built in 1894) and comprised five gun-emplacements with accompanying underground magazines and stores, and a casemate red-brick barrack block. The battery was fully disarmed by 1912 and was briefly used as a radar station in the Second World War. The site was released by the Ministry of Defence in 1951 and became a holiday park in 1955.

It is unknown if the barrack block was completed during the 1888-1890 phase or contemporary with the ditch works of 1894. The block was constructed below the central rampart (or traverse), located to the north-east of the gun emplacements, on the east side of the site.

The historic plans show a single-storey range, eight bays north-west to south-east, and five separate men’s-quarters within the barrack block. A narrower through-passage in the south-east bay gave access between the barracks and the gun emplacements. Each of the spaces had a bombproof vaulted red-brick vaulted roof (casemate), given further protection by the earthen rampart above. The bays were defined by a brick semi-circular arch on the north-east elevation and, apart from to the passage, each bay had a timber-framed and glazed screen with a timber planked entrance door. Solid walls divided the second and third, and fourth and fifth quarters; the other dividing walls appear to have accommodated a small fireplace with its flue rising to ground level on the rampart above. At some point the penultimate north-west bay was fitted out as a chapel. Photographs from 2016 show it fitted out with re-used church fittings reportedly unwanted timber panelling and pews. Urinals were accommodated in a shallower, screened space at the north-west end of the block.

The barracks accommodated 40 male personnel and may have been supplemented by accommodation at the nearby Maker Barracks. It has also been suggested that the barrack block was used during the First World War as accommodation for the gunners using the associated practice battery to the south-west of the site.

In the C20 the interior of the barrack block was altered to create a bar and restaurant as part of the holiday park. A large function-room extension was added to the north-east elevation of the barracks in the early C21; it is excluded from the List entry.

Details

Casemate barrack block, constructed between 1888 and 1894. Altered and extended in the late C20 and early C21; now a bar and restaurant. The early-C21 extension to the north-east is excluded from the List entry.

MATERIALS: constructed of red-brick with granite dressings, with glazed timber screens to the north-east elevation.

PLAN: rectangular in plan, orientated north-west to south-east and facing north-east.

EXTERIOR: the barrack block is single storey and constructed of red-brick. It is eight bays north-west to south-east, with each bay defined by a segmental brick arch. The block is partially built into the north-east face of the central rampart with a flat roof protruding above the main elevation on that side. A through passage in the south-east bay is partially blocked with a concrete-block wall, forming a store. The former accommodation bays are defined by a timber-framed, glazed screen above a brick plinth with granite dressings, fitted into the brick arch; these are now internal due to the construction of a single-storey function-room extension (excluded from the List entry). One timber-planked door, complete with War Department furniture, survives to a former chapel at the north-west end; all other door openings have C20 or C21 timber doors. At right-angles to the elevation by the former chapel is a small concrete structure with a pitched roof.

INTERIOR: the interior comprises five spaces of identical size with red-brick partition walls, fitted out as a bar and restaurant through the building. The vaulted roofs (casemates) and walls are exposed red-brick. The north-west room, formerly a chapel and reading room, remains divided from the former accommodation but is not accessible. The furthest north-west space is open to the front, is shallower than the other spaces and has a concrete floor.

Sources

Books and journals
Pye, A, Woodward, F, The Historic Defences of Plymouth (1996), 91-92

Websites
Heritage Gateway: Cornwall and Scilly Historic Environment Record, accessed 10/02/2025 from https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MCO23178&resourceID=1020
Haunted Devon Investigations: Whitsand Bay Fort Investigation 2016 (photographs of interior of former chapel), accessed 10/02/2025 from https://haunted-devon.co.uk/membership/member-area/reports/v/whitsand-bay-fort-cornwall/whitsand-bay-fort-12th-march-2016/whitsand-bay-fort-investigation-12th-march-2016

Other
AC Archaeology / A Passmore, Whitsand Bay Battery, St John, Cornwall: Conservation Management Plan (draft), 2023
AC Archaeology / A Passmore, Whitsand Bay Battery, St John, Cornwall: Heritage Statement, 2023
AC Archaeology / A Passmore and S Smith, Whitsand Bay Battery, St John, Cornwall: Heritage Statement, 2024
Fortification Design Branch plans of Whitesand Bay Battery, 1896 (WO 78/5052 sheets 1-8), sourced from Pinterest.com

End of official list entry