{"id":17665,"date":"2022-07-04T07:24:11","date_gmt":"2022-07-04T05:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.countryfile.com\/?p=117651"},"modified":"2022-07-04T07:53:15","modified_gmt":"2022-07-04T05:53:15","slug":"day-out-st-catherines-fort-pembrokeshire","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/rss_feed\/day-out-st-catherines-fort-pembrokeshire\/","title":{"rendered":"Day out: St Catherine\u2019s Fort, Pembrokeshire"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Simon Whaley\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 04 July 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Step on to Tenby<\/a>\u2019s Castle Beach at high tide and St Catherine\u2019s Island<\/a> is tantalisingly close, yet inaccessible. However, at low tide, weather permitting, this marvel of the Welsh coast is waiting to be explored, thanks to a band of volunteers.<\/p>\n

St Catherine\u2019s is a dramatic limestone outcrop, 200m long, 60m wide and 28m high. Conquering it means climbing 74 steps to reach a 10m steel bridge spanning the final moat-like ditch defence.<\/p>\n

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St Catherine\u2019s Island and Fort with Caldey Island in the distance\/Credit: Simon Whaley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

History of St Catherine\u2019s Island<\/h2>\n

Solitude-seeking 12th-century visitors founded a small chapel here dedicated to St Catherine, but today, it\u2019s the substantial shell of a Palmerston Fort that crowns this incredible islet.<\/p>\n

The fort was built in 1867 to protect the naval dockyard at Pembroke and Milford Haven\u2019s deep-water anchorage from a perceived Napoleonic threat, but thankfully it was never needed. Its imposing, black metal doors give it a prison-like atmosphere. Fans of the BBC series Sherlock<\/i> may recognise the location from the 2016 episode, \u2018The Final Problem\u2019, when it doubled as a North Sea prison.<\/p>\n

Vast windows overlooking Pembrokeshire\u2019s glorious coastline now fill the gaps once taken by Napoleon-deterring seven- and nine-inch artillery.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Interior of St Catherine\u2019s Fort\/Credit: Simon Whaley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The 20th century saw many new guises for the fort. In 1907, the Windsor-Richards family turned it into a luxury home. Step along its central corridor, and it\u2019s easy to imagine the gun casemates on either side making cosy rooms with captivating sea views.<\/p>\n

Garrisoned during the First World War, and compulsorily purchased by the government at the outbreak of the Second World War, little remains of its residential history because Harrods auctioned off most of the internal fittings in 1940.<\/p>\n

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