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Photographer: Barry Swackhamer
Taken: August 10, 2014
Caption:
No. 2 (Centre) Blockhouse Marker | Additional Description:
Click on the image to enlarge the panel and view the captioned map and plans.
Captions: (left) This map shows the fort being rebuilt after the two American attacks in 1813. The three blockhouses provided ‘front-line’ protection before the rest of the fort’s walls were built. The west-end blockhouse apparently caught fire during construction and was not replaced. (Map by George Williams, Royal Military Surveyor and Draughtsman, 1813, Library and Archives Canada). (center) The British army built 13 blockhouses in Toronto between 1793 and 1838. The town blockhouse of 1798 was intended to protect the civilian community from attack during a period of tension with the local Mississaugaus. Its diagonal upper floor improved the field field of fire, and was a common feature in blockhouses built outside larger fortifications. (Plan by Captain William Graham, York Militia, 1798, Library and Archives Canada). (right) The 1813-14 Gibraltar Point Blockhouse
In 1813-14, a blockhouse was built at Gibraltar Point south of the harbour channel opposite the fort. It had an open deck on its upper floor for artillery, a traversing platform to maximize the gun’s field of fire, and could heat ‘hot shot’ to set enemy ships on fire. The walls had a double layer of logs filled with tightly-packed earth or rubble. (Modern drawing, based on a plan by Lieutenant Elias Durnford, Royal Engineers, 1823, Library and Archives of Canada).
Submitted: May 26, 2015, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
Database Locator Identification Number: p309455
File Size: 3.345 Megabytes
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