The Blockhouse, The Island
See also notes on Harbours [St Ives] St Ives 1765 and on the Palmerston Forts in this gallery.
The Blockhouse, St Ives
The Palmerston forts appear to have been built around 1904.
There was a star fortification to this head at the end of the 15th century, with a blockhouse;
there was a blockhouse and small fort just where the new pier (of 1770) met The Island;
there is a building there now which may be built upon or is a part of that fort.
In 1812, the lower blockhouse was still being used (as a government store).
The upper blockhouse and the star fort cannot be seen,
and so perhaps the stone was used to build the present blockhouse,
the Palmerston fort being built with very neat stonework and precision cut circular coping of grey granite.
The walls are of same source, unlike that of the blockhouse.
The stone quoins of the slit windows appear to be of the same date as the Palmerston fort.
They are of a different granite than that used on the coping of the Palmerston fort,
however they are scumble worked, a technique not found in earlier buildings.
The walls of the blockhouse are irregular and uneven, indicating that it was built of available materials on site.
The walls flanking the blockhouse to the rear are very much older and appear to date before 1812.
Raymond Forward
