Culmore Fort, Culmore point, Londonderry, BT48 8JW

Culmore Fort is a significant stone fortification of great importance for understanding pre- and post-plantation activities in the Culmore area from the 16th to 19th centuries. The building resembles a low tower house structure, prominently positioned on the River Foyle at the point where Culmore Bay narrows before the river flows into Lough Foyle.

The fort is constructed of random rubble stone and stands four storeys high, measuring approximately eight metres by seven metres at ground level externally. The external walls are built with a pronounced batter, particularly on the bottom storey. The top of the walls are crenellated and crowned with a pyramidal slated roof set behind the battlements.

A single storey crenellated porch projects from the south east wall, not quite centred on the wall, with a blocked up doorway. The masonry of the porch differs from the main walls, suggesting rebuilding. Above the porch is a blocked up vertical rectangular opening, possibly providing light to an internal mural stair or passageway, with a row of drainage holes higher up serving the access way behind the battlements.

The south west wall has a single narrow doorway at ground floor level approximately mid-wall. The doorway features a flat head formed by vertically placed stones above a flattish segmental relieving arch. Above the door is a narrow slit, and higher still a row of drainage holes. A rainwater trunk head with round metal downpipe is also fixed to this wall. The battlements here contain four embrasures, whilst the south east contains five.

The north west wall has no openings except drainage holes and battlements. The north east wall features a boarded up opening at ground floor level, with a three-light Tudor-style window above at first and second floor level. The window has sandstone cill, head, sides and mullions, with the head of each light pointed and the sandstone members chamfered. All openings have vertically placed stone flat arches. Drainage channels and battlements are repeated on this face, with a trunk head and downpipe fixed to the wall.

Behind the battlements is a stone-built structure with a natural slated roof with lead hips, half-round metal gutter and downpipes, with an access passage running around it.

The fort's origins are subject to speculation. It may have been preceded by a medieval structure, or it may have been established during the Elizabethan expedition of 1566–67. Docwra established a military base here in 1600. Sir Thomas Phillips records a Raven's illustration of Culmore Fort in his publication Londonderry and the London Companies 1609–1629. The fort was ruined during the events of 1688–89 and remained derelict until reconstruction by General Hart in the 1780s. A garrison was based in the fort until 1688; the original chapel, Holy Trinity Church of Ireland, was built in 1687 for the convenience of the military staff.

Anderson McCausland, occupant of Culmore House, carried out repairs to the fort in 1830. By 1858 it served as a coastguard station, as recorded in Griffith's Valuation, but the coastguards were withdrawn by the Admiralty in 1870. The fort is presently used by the Culmore Yacht Club and remains in the ownership of the Honourable the Irish Society. Before 1860, the fort and 300 acres of attached land were allotted to the governors of the fort. The last governor was the Earl of Strafford, who received £200 from the Irish Society upon appointment and collected rent from the lands. Upon his death in 1860, the fort and lands reverted to the Irish Society.

Remains of a moat can be discerned to the west and north of the fort. It is overgrown, and much of the land within it has been built upon. The fort is a scheduled monument (LDY 14A.1) and the moat is separately scheduled (LDY 14A.5).