Born out of the sea 400 million years ago Drake’s Island has been a place of pilgrimage, a refuge, a fort, a prison, an observatory and an adventure centre. The fortifications have defended Plymouth from the time of the Spanish Armada to the World Wars. It has been the starting point for the voyages of discovery of some of the greatest of our explorers, Drake, Cook and Darwin. Still a place of mystery and rumour follow in the footsteps of Drake discovering Drake’s Island and the lives of those that lived there.
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The 1895 Island Defences Survey
The next set of surveys done by the Royal Engineers was in 1895 overseen by Lt Col Francis Mascall who was the...
How the Island looked in 1881 including Skittle Alley
A few more fascinating documents to explore that have recently come to light. It’s the 1881 Barrack Plan for the...
Old Charts of The First Fortifications and Drake’s Fort on the City Foreshore
I came across two old charts dating back to at least 1600 and possibly slightly earlier of the first fortifications on...