Fort Scoveston

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The monument comprises a fort built between 1861 and 1868 part of an intended north line of defences for Pembroke Dockyard developed during the threat of French invasion under Napoleon III. Only this fort of a chain of land forts from Newton Noyes to Burton Mountain was built. It is sited on a low hill with views across the countryside and comprises a very large hexagonal building with sides of 120m, surrounded by a dry moat some 8m deep and 11m wide with stone-revetted escarpment walls, natural rock forming the counter-scarp. There is a single entrance on the south approached by a serpentine road to what was a wooden bridge and is now an earth causeway. The entrance leads through a stone archway into a tunnel through a massive earth bank. The moat was covered by one double and four single two-storey ‘caponnieres’ – structures providing both access and cover; each has 4 gun embrasures and musketry loopholes. The fort was designed to have 32 guns sited on the ramparts served by 12 expense magazines set into traverses with each gun position protected from behind by earth. An earth bank also ran across the central parade ground. The garrison of 128 men was accomodated in the five caponnieres together with 12 barrel-vaulted bomb-proof casemates. Two barrel vaulted underground chambers formed the magazine was under the northwest rampart.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of 19th century military organisation. The monument forms an important element within the wider context of the military history of Wales and the structures may contain well preserved archaeological evidence concerning chronology, layout and building techniques.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.