High Knoll Fort

High Knoll crowns its 584-metre hill with the island's most imposing structure: the great fort in its present form dates from the 1870s - a stone redoubt built as final refuge for the population against threats that never came, its massive walls, gate and casemates now commanding panoramas that organise the whole island at a glance: Jamestown's valley crack, the central peaks' green, the barren coastal crowns and the Atlantic's circle. The fort hosts occasional island events within the walls; visitors otherwise share the ramparts with wind, mynas and the geography lesson.

Background

The fort was a redoubt of the English East India Company and stands approximately one mile south of historic Lower Jamestown. Its first form, from 1799, was a circular tower, sometimes called a Martello tower, modelled on a similar tower at Simon's Town in South Africa. It protected the battery at Ladder Hill from the rear, and the fort was known as the Citadel. In 1874 the Royal Engineers rebuilt it, keeping the old tower inside the new structure. Later the fort served as quarantine for imported chickens, sheep and cattle, and in the mid-1980s it held a small NASA tracking station. It is a Grade I listed building and reopened on 18 December 2010.

Source: Wikipedia, "High Knoll Fort"

The main sights

• The great walls - the 1870s redoubt at full stone scale.
• The island panorama - valley, peaks and coast from the ramparts.
• The casemate rooms - the refuge architecture within.
• The event nights - island gatherings behind the gate, occasionally.

When to go

Year round; late afternoon light stages the walls and the westward views. The knoll's wind is a standing companion.

Before you go

Interior access varies with maintenance and events - the ramparts and setting carry the visit regardless; edges are unfenced in stretches.

Nearby

Plantation House, Jamestown and the central ridge roads.

Key facts