CNHS - Fort Amherst - St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
N 47° 33.800 W 052° 40.830
22T E 373589 N 5269136
Fort Amherst was designated a CNHS because the 1777 fortification guarded St. John’s harbour and was named after colonel William Amherst, who had recaptured St. John’s from the French in 1762.
Waymark Code: WMJT3M
Location: Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Date Posted: 12/27/2013
Views: 12
Fort Amherst was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1951 because the British fortification, completed on this site in 1777, guarded the mouth of St. John’s harbour, and was named after colonel William Amherst, who had recaptured St. John’s from the French in 1762.
The heritage value of Fort Amherst lies in its strategic location and its long history of use as a military defensive installation. In 1769, a proposal was put forth to build a battery intended to give protection to ships which were headed for the harbour but could not enter due to high winds. Named Fort Amherst, this battery was located at the South Head entrance to the Narrows. Part of an extended system of defence designed to protect British interests in Newfoundland, it was constructed between 1772 and 1777 under the supervision of Captain Robert Pringle of the British Royal Engineers. Fort Amherst consisted of a tower and a small battery below, eventually pierced for 20 guns. While the original eighteenth-century fort eventually fell into ruin, Fort Amherst’s strategic importance was evident long after the colonial wars of the eighteenth century, as evidenced by the nineteenth and twentieth-century military installations that later occupied the site.
Classification: National Historic Site
Province or Territory: Newfoundland & Labrador
Location - City name/Town name: St. John's
Link to Parks Canada entry (must be on www.pc.gc.ca): [Web Link]
Link to HistoricPlaces.ca: [Web Link]
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