GENERAL HISTORY OF THE FORT

For many years now, Polhawn Fort has been an extraordinary and fascinating Cornish family home. Hidden away in a corner of the famous Rame Head Peninsula - loved, respected and feared by mariners since the days of Sir Francis Drake - the Fort has lain at the end of its own half mile drive, untouched by the ravages of civilisation.

The Fort was originally built in the 1860s as part of the widespread defences of the critically important Naval base at Plymouth. The French, under Napoleon III, had built the world's first iron-clad steam driven warship, La Gloire, which threatened to make the entire Royal Navy obsolete overnight.

As the Victorians, over whose Empire the sun never set, still believed that Britannia ruled the waves, this was a tremendous blow to the national psyche. Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister, who was a firm believer in the "Wogs begin at Calais" school of international diplomacy, mistrusted Napoleon III, and was determined that Britain should have adequate sea defences which could keep any potential enemies out at sea.