Posted on 03/13/2020 8:28:30 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Three boatloads of people will be allowed to explore tunnels and crumbling fortifications
Every nook and cranny teems with history. The tales of war, adventure, death and crime are myriad but for 30 years the people of Plymouth have only been able to gaze across at Drake’s Island – but not set foot there.
But on Sunday three boatloads of visitors will make the short hop from the Devon city to explore the crumbling fortifications, the bramble-covered barrack buildings and its mysterious tunnels.
The island in Plymouth Sound has been off-limits since 1989 – when an adventure centre on the island closed down – but is now being developed as a luxury holiday resort, and before building work starts, people have been invited to buy tickets – the proceeds of which are going to a local hospice – to join exclusive tours.
Demand for the 210 tickets for Sunday and a second trip in May was huge. They were snapped up within minutes and St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth, which will benefit from the proceeds, reported that its website received almost half a million hits during the sale period, not just from Plymouth people but from fans of history and islands from across the UK.
Robert Maltby, the head of communications and marketing at the hospice, said the island was important to the people of Plymouth.
“It’s an intriguing place,” he said. “If you’re a Plymothian it is right there in front of you all the time. It’s a major piece of the city’s history and everyone wonders what it’s like.”
The 2.5-hectare (6.5-acre) island has been a place of pilgrimage, a refuge, a fort, prison and – until the late 1980s – the site of the Drake’s Island Adventure Centre.
Maltby has had a preview of the island, taking a trip
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/gallery/a-walk-around-drakes-island-3211620
some pics
Be seeing you.
Maybe some rebooted mini-episodes of Bergerac could be made there?
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There are several empty shore battery emplacements -- with four huge, short-barreled 19th century shore battery guns -- including this one still on its mount...
... visible on the ground via Google Earth...
...and, from the ground:
There is also a 180-degree arcuate battery -- with ~18 embrasures for smaller guns at approximately every ten degrees...
Also, on the Stonehouse shore facing the island, there are large fortifications with many empty gun emplacements...
Should be an intriguing place to explore!
(In some ways, it also reminds me of the abandoned shore defenses on Galveston Island, Texas.)
TXnMA
“I will not strike some poor cow in her lady bag just to try and get some solids in my cream.”
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