Plymouth Blockhouse, Fishers Nose Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Lambhay Point; Queen Elizabeth's Tower

In the civil parish of Plymouth.
In the historic county of Devonshire.
Modern Authority of Plymouth; City of.
1974 county of Devon.
Medieval County of Devon.

OS Map Grid Reference: SX48155363
Latitude 50.36292° Longitude -4.13635°

Plymouth Blockhouse, Fishers Nose Tower has been described as a certain Artillery Fort.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This is a Grade 2 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Although depicted on a plot of 1540 as part of Henry VIII's coastal defences, the blockhouse may have been built in the late 15th century and modified in 1523. It is polygonal in plan, and was shown as two-storyed and crenellated with gun embrasures on the lower floor on the 1540 plot. It was incorporated into the lower fort of Plymouth Fort in 1595 and remained as part of the Lower Fort of the Royal Citadel from the 1660s. In 1716 it was renamed 'Queen Elizabeth's Tower'. Used as an Air Raid Protection Shelter during World War Two. It is architecturally different from the other Plymouth blockhouses as it has no granite embrasures. (PastScape)

Remains of tower built for coastal defence. c1537-39. Battered Plymouth limestone rubble walls with dressed granite quoins. Rectangular plan projecting to the west and returned back to the cliff at the east end. Part of a series of towers built in Plymouth during the reign of Henry VIII. (Listed Building Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1386214
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 437591.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Charles Taylor's ecastles
  CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk and CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
Books
- Duffy, Michael, 1999, 'Coastal Defences and Garrisons 1480-1914' in Kain, R. and Ravenhill, W., Historical Atlas of South-West England (University of Exeter Press) p. 158-60
  Salter, Mike, 1999, The Castles of Devon and Cornwall (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 76
  Pye, Andrew and Woodward, Freddy, 1996, The historic defences of Plymouth (Exeter: Exeter Archaeology Fortress Study Group South West) p. 129
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 118
  Bracken, 1931, History of Plymouth (Plymouth) p. 68
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Plymouth Map of c. 1540 online copy online copy
  B.M. Harleian MS. 1326 (Survey of 1623) British Library collection information

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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