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AGATON FORT

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Irregular five-sided artillery fort, built in 1869, pentagonal work surrounded by a ditch and rampart. Sited on a knoll slightly forward of and commanding the glacis slopes of Ernesettle Fort and Knowles Battery. It is connected to both by a military road protected by an embankment. Now occupied by the Ministry of Transport. Scheduled.

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(SX 455595) AGATON FORT (NAT). (1)

SX 455595. Agaton Fort, built about 1869, is pentagonal in shape, surrounded by ramparts and a ditch, and closed by a gorge wall. The casemates, ramparts and ditch are well preserved but the centre has been levelled to accommodate new buildings now occupied by a Ministry of Transport Heavy Vehicle Testing Station. An overgrown depression to the east, between ramparts and ditch, is probably the site of the 'nests' for the mortars. (2)

The ditch and gorge wall were of the same charater as Ernesettle Fort and flanked by guns and musketry. Originally there were 20 gun emplacements for 68-pounder guns, all in open battery except for one in a Haxo casemate. Eventually 5 Haxo casemates wre built. Six mortars were also built in 2 nests at the roof of the exterior slope. The centre of the fort is now a heavy goods vehicle testing centre. The ditch is covered by a double an single caponier.(3,4)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 1:10 560 1966

( 2) by Ian V Hogg 1974 Coast defences of England and Wales, 1856-1956

1974 Page(s)179-98

(3) Fortress Study Group Fort : the international journal of fortification and military architecture

11, 1983 Page(s)96

(4) Andrew Pye and Freddy Woodward 1996 The historic defences of Plymouth

Page(s)169-72

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