Post by Dave on Sept 10, 2020 20:26:11 GMT
Berry Head Forts & Quarry Thursday 10th September 2020
It has been over ten years since I last visited Berry head and fifteen years since I walked down to the quarry. It was something I wanted to do again while I am still able too and so I set about making my plans. After reading a few horror stories about people getting stung by the private parking company who now run the Berry head car park, I decided to park the car in Gillard Road by the houses and walk to Berry Head.
I thought this was a good plan, well that was until It was time to leave Berry head and make my way home. I was in two minds this morning, should I go to Berry head or over to Labrador Bay and get some shots of the four cruise liners in the Bay. I decided on Berry Head with the plan to do the quarry first as its easy going down but a long climb back up to the top. As luck would have it I got a good view of the ships from Berry Head, I just wish I had taken one of my long lenses with me,
I have always felt it was a shame the quarry is gated and you can not walk right into it, I remember the last time I was there I saw a car that had been driven of the top of the quarry. It was always been a joke statement when locals are feeling a bit down “I’m off too Berry Head” but sadly it is a place where many have chosen to end their lives. Just like Hopes Nose in Torquay, the quarry is a very popular spot with local fishermen.
I walked as far as I could until I came to a rocky edge with the sea some way down below, time to make that long leg aching walk back out of the quarry area. My lungs are so much stronger since I gave up smoking over seven years ago, I walked back up with ease, only my legs were hurting a bit, but they were before I even went out this morning. I have put it down to getting old and working far to hard all of my life.
Up at the main fort now and plenty of people around, it was a good job I did park the car where I did as the car park was full when I got there. The outside seating at the Guardhouse Café was full and so I decided not to get anything to eat or drink from there, I had taken a drink with me anyway,
I walked all the way to the lighthouse end and then made my way back and over to the second fort that has a number of ruined buildings in it. After getting all the photos I was after it was time to start walking back to the car. By now my right leg was hurting more than I would have liked and it seemed the car was such a long way away. I was so glad when I finally saw it still a few hundred yards away, but I could see it.
A very enjoyable afternoon and probably my final visit to Berry Head, well the quarry for sure. I have so many other places on my to do list anyway and now I do have the time to do them.
Below is a small piece about the forts and the lighthouse.
The Forts.
The two forts were built on the pre-existing Iron Age Hill fort site overlooking Torbay naval anchorage. Fortifications were erected on the headland in 1793 against threatened invasion by French armies and strengthened with limestone in 1803, when gun batteries were added to protect the anchorages. They were abandoned after two years when the War of American Independence finished, and the armaments were moved to Plymouth, but the ramparts remain.
Lighthouse
At the end of Berry Head, beyond the coastguard station, is the lighthouse, which forms part of the chain of south coast beacons. It is administered by Trinity House The lighthouse, which was built in 1906, was converted to unwatched acetylene operation in 1921 and modernised and converted to mains electricity in 1994. The light being visible over 20 miles away, It gives a double flash every 15 secs. It came to be known as the smallest, highest and deepest light in the British Isles - the tower is diminutive, requiring no further elevation than that given by the headland itself, and the optic was originally turned by the action of a weight falling down a 45m deep shaft, now made redundant by a small motor. Semaphore signalling apparatus was on Berry Head before 1875 and acted as the Lloyds' Signal Station for Torbay.
First Picture courtesy of Torbay Coast & Countryside Trust
