St. George is the first permanent English settlement in Bermuda, dating from 1612. Blasterz were very excited to wander down Pound Alley and see the old town pound in the historic city of St. George Bermuda, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
It is CLEARLY an old pound with thick walls, a narrow entrance, a triangular shape to fit inside the street grid (such as it was in the 1600s).
It is conveniently located behind King's Square and the back door of the Town Hall. King's Square is also home to old stocks, ducking stool, and other 17th-century punishment devices.
That this pound is located at the dead end of Pound Alley into two diverging streets sealed it for us, despite there being no plaque about it.
We asked a local official about this area, who confirmed to us its use "in the very early days" as a pound for loose livestock. She said that the town landscaped it and added a statue to Thomas Moore well before the UNESCO designation, but that there are no plans to remove the Moore bust (the famed Celtic poet who stayed here in the early 1800s) in order to restore the town pound to its 17th century appearance.
From the UNESCO designation: (
visit link)
"The historic town of St George with its related fortifications is an outstanding example of a continuously occupied, fortified, colonial town dating from the early 17th century and the oldest English town in the New World.
St George is a picturesque and outstanding example of the earliest colonial English urban settlement in the New World. Its associated fortifications graphically illustrate the development of English military engineering from the 17th to 20th centuries, being adapted to take account of the development of artillery over this period. Discovered in 1505 by the Spanish captain Juan Bermudéz, Bermuda was later stocked by the Spanish as a place of refuge in cases of shipwreck. The permanent settlement of St George began in August 1612 with the arrival of a governor, a clergyman, and 60 settlers, to be joined a few months later by 600 more people. A watchtower was built on Fort George Hill and the foundations of several forts were laid to guard the entrances to St George's Harbour and Castle Harbour. The Crown assumed responsibility in 1684 for the colony, of which St George remained the capital until the mid-19th century. During this period Africans and Indians were brought to Bermuda; their descendants make up the majority of the multiracial society of today. For the next century the economy of the island centred on the cedar tree, used for ship construction.
The mid-18th century was a time of economic stagnation for the town, but military activities during the American Revolution (1776-83) saw the beginning of a boom. The Corporation of St George was formed in 1797. St George was to remain a strategic military location for the next two centuries until the US naval base closed in 1995. The economy picked up again with the development of the tourist industry in the later 19th century. The Town and its Corporation's efforts to save historic buildings began as early as 1920.
St George was a garrison town from its earliest days, and military installations developed on the eastern side of the town. The first of many barracks were built on Barrack Hill in 1780, such as residences for senior officers, officers' messes, hospitals, a garrison chapel, etc., followed during the course of the 19th century. These were constructed in standard British military style but using local materials. At the end of the American Revolution, Britain made St George's Island its main naval base. Work on the dockyard began at the turn of the century, with drastic changes in the system of fortifications, with the construction of forts George, Victoria, St Catherine, Albert, and Cunningham (on Paget Island). The fortifications continued to serve until the coastal defence came to an end in 1956.
The architecture of Bermuda is unique, and has changed little in its basic elements since the end of the 17th century. The simple, well proportioned houses, of one or two storeys, are constructed with load-bearing masonry walls, rendered and painted in pastel colours, and roofs of stone slabs painted white. Some of the houses, such as Bridge House, the Hunter Building, or Whitehall, are impressive mansions, dating in their present form from the 19th century and embellished with imposing balconies and verandas. There are several churches, the most important of which is St Peter's Church, the oldest Anglican Church site in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere. The Ebenezer Methodist Church of 1840 is a fine building in neoclassical style.
The World Heritage site also comprises the fortifications on the Island and a number of small islands commanding access to the Town and Castle Harbour. The related fortifications, representing almost the complete range of British coastal fortifications and artillery overseas, are mostly ruined or exist as no more than archaeological sites. They are on Castle Island, Southampton Island, St David's Island, Governor's Island, Paget's Island, Ferry Island and Coney Island. On St George's Island there is Gate's Fort, Alexandra Battery, Fort Albert, Fort St Catherine. Fort Victoria is one of the few land forts at Bermuda. The town itself is defended by two forts, the Western Redoubt, Fort St George, Martello Tower, magazine, and lime-kiln built in the 1820s."