Fort Charlotte, Morne Fortuné
Ridge-top French and British fortifications above Castries, with batteries, cemeteries and graves.
Morne Fortuné rises some 260 metres directly above Castries harbour, and its strategic value made it the most fought-over ground on Saint Lucia. The French began a fortified position here in 1768 and completed the Citadelle du Morne Fortuné in 1784. The island changed hands repeatedly between France and Britain, and after the British assault of 1794 the works were renamed Fort Charlotte. The surviving powder magazine, built in the 1760s with walls about a metre thick, is often called the oldest building on the island.
Scattered along the ridge are the Apostles Battery, whose four nine-inch guns were remounted in 2015, guard cells, barracks and separate French and British military cemeteries. An obelisk commemorates the 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot, which took the hill in 1796. Saint Lucia's two Nobel laureates, the economist Sir Arthur Lewis and the poet Sir Derek Walcott, are buried nearby. Much of the barrack range has been adapted since 1985 as Sir Arthur Lewis Community College.
Highlights
- Powder magazine of the 1760s, said to be the oldest building on Saint Lucia
- Apostles Battery, whose four nine-inch guns were remounted in 2015
- Inniskilling Monument to the British assault of 1796
- Graves of the Nobel laureates Sir Arthur Lewis and Sir Derek Walcott
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