The Keep -- Royal Naval Dockyards, Ireland Island, Somerset Parish BM
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member Benchmark Blasterz
N 32° 19.709 W 064° 49.992
20S E 327451 N 3578322
This sign just inside the entrance to The Keep explains the history of this critical structure inside the Royal Naval Dockyards at Bermuda
Waymark Code: WMNFDZ
Location: Bermuda
Date Posted: 03/05/2015
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Outspoken1
Views: 3

This sign is located on the wall just inside The Keep, by the entry over the moat.

The sign reads as follows:

"THE KEEP
The Keep is the final line of defence of the Dockyard. The hilly peninsula and natural tidal pool around which it was built, was transformed into a fortress by walling-up cliffs, carving out batteries, and underground magazines in its interior. Access was gained in the Seagate in the wall into the tidal pool, or over a drawbridge across a moat guarded by Canon, or from the North Rampart by means of a temporary removable bridge.

The Keep contains the magazine for storage of powder, cannon shot, shells, and explosives for Ships of the Fleet, the Gun Wharf Shed, and at its highest elevation, the house of Civilian Commissioner of the Admiralty responsible for the Dockyard. The gunpowder magazines, built-in 1837, are some of the oldest buildings in the Yard. The Commissioners House has had many uses, a residence, Royal Marine barracks, military staff office, married quarters, and as a former HMS Malabar. After undergoing years of restoration it now houses the offices and exhibits of the Bermuda Maritime Museum. (The keep magazine was under the control of the army until 1930.)

The Seagate enabled gunpowder and shot to be lightered out to waiting warships with minimal risk of explosion occurring.
The Keep commands the Dockyard, Sally Port, the Breakwater, the Fleet Anchorage, and the deep water channels leading to the Dockyard. In the Second World War it housed a cipher station and radio communications towers. The fortifications display a range of gun emplacements and guns from the 1820s to the early 20th century, from smooth bore cannon, to rifled muzzle loaders, and breech loading, quick-firing guns."

The Keep is now home to the Bermuda Maritime Museum. It is well worth a few hours spent inside.

See here (visit link)
Group that erected the marker: West End marketing Development Company

URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]

Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
The Keep
Roya Naval DockyardsSomerset parish Bermuda


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Benchmark Blasterz visited The Keep -- Royal Naval Dockyards, Ireland Island, Somerset Parish BM 02/22/2015 Benchmark Blasterz visited it