Castle Hill walking tour Preview

1

Welcome to Castle Hill

This site protects many visible ruins of defences that were used by the French and British to protect their interests here.

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2

Fields of fire

As you walk up the path towards Fort Royal, look around you. The forest you see growing here would have been cut down by the French soldiers as the fort was being built.

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3

National flags

The flags on your left and right are those flown by France and Britain during the periods when each had defences here. The flag of the French “Marine Department”, on the left, was the simple white banner of the Bourbon kings of France.

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4

Outer defences

Surrounding this field is a low stone wall about a metre high. It is made of dry laid stone, which means that mortar was not used to hold it together. The stone wall was backed by a palisade of sharpened wooden posts. This wall, called a "breastwork" was the outer defence for Fort Royal. It was built along the line where the gentle slope of the summit meets the steeper slope of the hill. Defending soldiers could hide behind this wall and fire down on attacking soldiers as they struggled up the hillside.

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5

Fort Royal ruins

In 1692 a squadron of English warships bombarded Plaisance and the main harbour defence works, Fort Louis. The town withstood the attack but French engineers knew that more defences were needed on the higher ground surrounding Plaisance in order to strike at enemy ships before they could get within range of the town.

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6

Fort Royal entrance

The entrance to Fort Royal is in one sense its weakest point. The level of the ground inside the fort is higher than the base of the walls outside. When the fort was first built the walls here were only about three metres high. On the surface this makes it look like the best place to attack. But the builders compensated for the weaknesses. The wall on either side of the gate had loopholes from which musket fire could be directed at attackers.

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7

Guard house

Looking to your left you can see the outline of the French guardhouse. At the back of the guardhouse you can still see the remains of the fireplace.

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8

Storage yard

Where do you keep your wheelbarrow; your ladder, pick, shovel and other tools? The French probably kept theirs in this small courtyard to the right of the gate. You can still see the outline of the walls and you’ll notice that it is not square but narrows towards the back. It had no roof so whatever was stored here would have been exposed to the weather. Like the guard room, the exterior wall here had embrasures through which soldiers could fire muskets.

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9

Powder magazine

The cannons and muskets used to defend the fort and keep enemy warships at bay required large quantities of gunpowder and that powder had to be kept safe and dry. The French built their magazine here within the bastion at the North-East corner of Fort Royal. As you walk down the steps into the magazine you can see that the French set it deep to help keep it safe. If you look to the sides you can see the beginnings of the arched ceiling.

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10

Inner courtyard

The walls of Fort Royal were about fourteen feet thick but only the surfaces were of stone. The outer walls and inner courtyard walls were built separately and the space between them was filled with earth and rubble. This type of construction enabled formidable walls to be built fairly quickly.

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11

Gun platforms

You are now standing in the area that would have formed the South Gun Platform. Of course it would have been considerably higher, especially at the outer walls. Depending on the year and which report you read, the French mounted between ten and sixteen guns here.

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12

Plaisance / Placentia

This is a remarkable harbour positioned on the South coast of Newfoundland, it remains ice free the entire year! Look to your right towards the open Atlantic. The low point of land on the left side is Pointe Verte and just beyond this is where the fishermen caught codfish.

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13

French Plaisance

In 1662, the French King Louis XIV established the royal colony of Plasance to ensure France’s place in the Newfoundland fishery and stop English expansion along the south coast. In the winter of 1689-90 Plaisance was ransacked by English privateers from Ferryland. As a result, the governor began to pay some much needed attention to the town’s sorry defences.

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14

British Placentia

In 1713 by the Treaty of Utrecht France recognized British sovereignty over Newfoundland. When the French left here in 1714 the British were so impressed with the defences that they made Placentia the location for the only British army garrison in Newfoundland. Only in the 1740s was a garrison re-established in St John’s.During the peaceful years after 1713 the British neglected the town’s defence works. In the 1720s Fort Louis was abandoned in favour of a new work, Fort Frederick on the Placentia side of the gut. It consisted of a stockade wall enclosing barracks, buildings and command offices. It was located just to the right of the lift bridge. By the 1740s when England and France were again at war the fort was in a state of disrepair. Some limited repairs were carried out and the British built a new fort on the site of Fort Louis which they simply called “The New Fort”. The re-establishment of a garrison at St. John’s during the period signalled the beginning of Placentia’s slow at military decline.

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15

Trails

Before departing from Fort Royal, have a look to the next stops on our tour. Look directly ahead across the hilltop. On top of the next hill is a small fortification called Gaillardin Redoubt, built in 1692 to prevent the high ground behind Fort Louis from falling into enemy hands.If you look to the lower edge of the Glacis, just to the right, you'll see an opening in the breastwork. This was a gate left by the French builders for a trail that connected Fort Louis, Fort Royal and Le Gaillardin Redoubt.

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16

Gaillardin redoubt

This small fortification was the first defence built by the French on this range of hills. Like Fort Royal it has an outer defensive breastwork and a stronger inner defence. It was built in 1692 at about the same time that Fort Louis was being constructed on the beach below. In fact, it was built because of Fort Louis. If an enemy could get artillery up here, they could bring a devastating fire against the fort. Gaillardin Redoubt was built to prevent this from happening.

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17

The detached redoubt

Even though Fort Louis on the Little Beach and Fort Royal on the hilltop provided significant protection against naval attack, the French still feared the ability of a naval force to land troops in the vicinity of the town. The most likely point for a landing was at Freshwater Cove below. This cove is in a blind spot for both Fort Louis and Fort Royal. The English did attempt a landing here in 1692 but were driven off by a detachment of soldiers and Basque militia-men.

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18

Conclusion

This concludes our tour of Castle Hill National Historic Site of Canada. We hope that it has helped you to understand the role of its defences. If you have any questions about anything on site or included in this presentation, please see one of our guide staff for clarification.

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