Beggars Fort (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Beggers Fort

In the civil parish of Antony.
In the historic county of Cornwall.
Modern Authority of Cornwall.
1974 county of Cornwall.
Medieval County of Cornwall.

OS Map Grid Reference: SX426567
Latitude 50.38905° Longitude -4.21560°

Beggars Fort has been described as a probable Artillery Fort, and also as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are no visible remains.

Comments

PastScape's given map reference does not fit with this written description. The given reference is north north east of Maryfield and not 'a flat top hill west of Maryfield' (which would be about SX420557). Interpretation of such early maps is subjective but may have been even further south west than this.

Presumably considered to be a fort planned or constructed in response to Spanish Armada. Shown on the plan as a roofed building surrounded by a low, square, crenellated wall. Labelled 'Beggers Fort' and shown mid way between East Antony (house and round crenellated tower) and St John (houses and a church with a square pinnacled tower). How much tactical value this fort overlooking the far upper reach of the Plymouth Sound would have been is in question and it may be this is a misinterpretation. What may be portrayed is fortified house, designed to resists quick pirate raids and, if so, then the actually location might better be found by considering the needs for a residential farm to have access to good water supply than for an artillery fort to have line of sight.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 437503.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 6256.

Books
- Pye, Andrew, and Woodward, Freddy, 1996, The historic defences of Plymouth p. 106
Periodical Articles
- Sheppard, P., 1974, 'Parochial Check-Lists of Antiquities' Cornish Archaeology Hendhyscans Kernow Vol. 13 p. 63 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- 'Spry Plot' map c 1591 view online

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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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