ynys catrin…
thresholds is a micro-project based on a short stay in the small Welsh seaside town of Tenby in October 2020 – between Covid-19 lockdowns – and the work is based on poems by the Tenby poet Alison J Bielski.
Ynys Catrin, St Catherine’s Fort, is a Palmerston Fort – built in 1867 to protect Britain during the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Subsequently, it has been a house, a zoo, a garrison in World War Two and now is a tourist attraction.
Palmerston Forts were as series of costal gun emplacements built in 1860s to defend the UK coastline from attack by the French Navy. In particular, they were situated to protect Royal Naval dockyards such as Portsmouth and Plymouth – and, in the case of St Catherine’s Fort, Pembroke and Milford docks.
Construction of the forts – named after Lord Palmerston (who was the then Prime Minister) – was hotly debated in parliament at the time, because of their costs.
Almost as soon as they were completed, the forts would become obsolete as changing alliances reduced the treat from the French Navy and new technology rendered the guns obsolete – because of this, the forts became know as ‘Palmerston’s Follies’.
the Forts would became the most costly and extensive system of fixed defences undertaken in Britain in peacetime
view these images on flickr:
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All images © W N BISHOP
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