
Brimstone
Hill Fortress :
Brimstone
Hill Fortress National Park is a UNESCO World
Heritage Site of historical, cultural and architectural
significance: a monument to the ingenuity of the
British military engineers who designed it and
to the skill, strength and endurance of the African
slaves who built and maintained it.The Fortress,
constructed intermittently between the 1690s and
1790s, is of singular importance as being the
remains of a large, complete military community
of the 18th century. As such, it is a veritable
time capsule of international significance.
The prominent Citadel is one
of the earliest and finest surviving examples
of a new style of fortification known as the 'polygonal
system'.
Brimstone Hill is nearly 800
feet high with steep and precipitous slopes which
had to be tamed by the disciplines of engineering
and architecture, and at the risk and probable
loss of human lives. The walls of the structures
are predominantly of stone, labouriously and skilfully
fashioned from the hard volcanic rock of which
the hill is composed. The mortar to cement the
stones was produced on site from the limestone
which covers much of the middle and lower slopes.
The Fortress is virtually a man-made out growth
of the natural hill.
The physical location of the
Fortress presents attractive panoramic vistas
of forested mountains, cultivated fields, the
historical township of Sandy Point, and neighbouring
Dutch, English and French islands across the Caribbean
Sea. Visit www.brimstonehillfortress.org
Charles Fort, Cleverly Hill, Sandy Point
:
The
two earliest English forts at Old Road and Sandy
Point Town (Hamilton Fort) were in poor condition
and it was decided, “to build a big, strong
fort on Cleverly’s Hill, under Brimstone
Hill. It was a suitable site, as ships were often
becalmed beneath it, when making for Sandy Point
Road. It was named after King Charles II, who
gave £500 to assist the planters.”
(Manchester, p.19)
Charles Fort was a military
post from 1670 until it was abandoned in 1854.
Some forty years later in 1890 it was used as
a Hansen Home (leper asylum). The Home was closed
in 1996.
| Information
compiled by the St.Christopher Heritage Society.
For information on many more Historical Sites,
you may visit them at www.stkittsheritage.org
or give them a call at tel: 869-465-5584 |
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