Plymouth Blockhouse, Firestone Bay (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Winter Villa; The Artillery 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: SX46375352
Latitude 50.36147° Longitude -4.16120°

Plymouth Blockhouse, Firestone Bay 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

Blockhouse tower for coastal defence. 1537-39, remodelled in the C19. Stone rubble with some granite dressings; flat roof behind embattled parapet. Polygonal plan, extended to the north-west in the C19. 2 storeys; irregularly-disposed openings, some windows enlarged from former gun loops. Original openings include chamfered 2-centred arched doorway to landward side and some original gun loops including some to the centres of some of the merlons. (Listed Building Report)

Firestone Bay Artillery Tower is part of a system of coastal defence dating from the time Henry VIII 1537-9 and is the best preserved of the towers. It is a 7-sided embattled tower of stone rubble with embrasures, loopholes and an old doorway.
The artillery tower was probably built in the late 15th or early 16th century as a blockhouse as part of the Edgecumbe family's defences of the harbour. In 1540 it is depicted as a two-storeyed polygonal tower with gun embrasures on two floors. By 1857 it had become a coastguard watch-house. In 1891-6 it was converted to public conveniences, and was converted into a restaurant in the late 20th century. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1129987
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 437590.
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.)
- 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
  Saunders, Andrew, 1997, Channel Defences (London; Batsford/English Heritage)
  Pye, Andrew and Woodward, Freddy, 1996, The historic defences of Plymouth (Exeter: Exeter Archaeology Fortress Study Group South West) p. 123
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 118
  Bracken, 1931, History of Plymouth (Plymouth) p. 68
Periodical Articles
- Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 138 p. 218-19
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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