Ruined Magazine And Blast Wall 1.8 Metres West Of Guardhouse, Southern Fort

The ruined magazine and blast wall, located 1.8 meters west of the guardhouse at the southern fort in Berry Head Country Park, dates from 1798 to 1802. This artillery magazine is constructed from roughly coursed Devonian limestone rubble, featuring a granite door surround, and its interior is lined with red brick. Although it has no roof, the gable-ends suggest that it once had a pitched roof parallel to the front. The small oblong building has walls approximately 1.2 meters thick and contains a single room with a door in the east wall. Surrounding the building on all four sides is the remains of a blast wall, approximately 2.7 meters away from the magazine. The structure is one storey high and has a plain, square-headed doorway with a lintel made of three large voussoirs, rebated for a door that opens outward. There are two ventilation slits in each of the interior side and rear walls, now blocked, which connect to single slits on the outside. The brick lining of the interior curves inwards at the top, indicating that there may have been a barrel-vault. This magazine is more complete than other ruinous structures on the fort and is a rare survival of a powder magazine.