Adjacent to the current main entrance to the Fort - the larger of two rooms under the stairs to the right was marked on the 1861 plan as ‘The Black Hole’, used for solitary confinement for Royal Marine prisoners. The smaller room under the left-hand stair is also called a Black Hole on the same plan. The prisoners have left evidence of their stays in the form of graffiti – in some cases they’ve marked off the days as they passed, with closely-grouped scored marks on the brickwork, and the numbers 30, 60 and even 90 appear. More elaborate graffiti appear on the roof of the vault to the left – two masted ships can be seen and an number of names, including Keenan. To the right there is more deeply-cut graffiti, including “Damn this B Hole”, CPO (Chief Petty Officer?) Smith complaining of “Bad Quarters” with the number 32 – for 1832? Lastly, we have “Lord keep (?) my transgressions and take away mine iniquity”, a misquotation from Job 7:21, carved by a Royal Marine.

Period

Post-Medieval (1540 - 1901)

Period comments

The earliest date of the feature, as a year, if known

The latest date of the feature, as a year, if known

Monument Type - Broad

Military coastal defences

Monument Type - Narrow

Monument Description

Evidence Type - Broad

Building

Evidence Type - Narrow

Evidence Description

Object Type - Broad

Object Type - Narrow

Object Description

Other records:

NRHE Number

461961

NT HBSMR Number

Unknown

HER Event Number

Unknown

External Link

None

Over to you...

If you know there are errors in the original feature record above, you can edit the original record

If you would like to visit the feature and carry out a 'Feature Update Survey', you can prepare a 'Feature Update Survey' pack for this feature (in PDF format)

If you have completed a 'Feature Update Survey' for this feature, you can submit your 'Feature Update Survey'

If you want to use your smart phone to carry out the 'Feature Update Survey', you can download the CITiZAN smart app.