Bastions And Walls Of Star Castle

The bastions and walls of Star Castle, built in 1593 with 18th-century additions, are an important historical structure located in St. Mary's. Designed by architect and engineer Robert Adams, the castle features roughly coursed granite rubble with dressed quoins and slate roofs. It has an eight-sided star-shaped plan and is primarily a single storey, although some sections have a second storey.

The battered walls surrounding the ditch include string-course divisions and a coped parapet. There are stairs, piers, and walls leading across the ditch to a two-storey entrance porch, which is slightly set forward and features a moulded square-headed architrave. This porch dates to 1593 and has a tablet with the monogram ER above it, topped by a pyramidal roof that extends above the parapet level. To the left of the parapet wall is an 18th-century bellcote.

The parapet also includes sally port openings, and above it are ramparts that contain three rectangular rooms with pyramidal roofs, originally used as a guardhouse, office, and lock-up. These rooms have slit windows, stacks, and 19th and 20th-century plank doors and glazing-bar casements, with the room at the south-west angle being roofless. There is a raised platform at the north-west angle. This structure is a significant part of the late 16th and 17th-century fortifications centered around Star Castle.