Federally commemorated in 1951, Fort Amherst sits at South Head, marking the entrance to St. John's harbour. The Historic Sites and Monuments Board's designation describes it as "the British fortification, completed on this site in 1777, [which] guarded the mouth of St. John's harbour, and was named after colonel William Amherst, who had recaptured St. John's from the French in 1762." Construction ran from 1772 to 1777 under "Captain Robert Pringle of the British Royal Engineers," and the fort "consisted of a tower and a small battery below, eventually pierced for 20 guns." There are "no visible remains" of the eighteenth-century works today; the site is marked by a plaque within the bounds of Signal Hill National Historic Site. source
Scenes set here
- Cloud of Bone
Bernice Morgan
“They have been climbing forever — sea, sky, earth — even time itself has dissolved in fog. The road, little more than a ledge hacked into rock, is now so narrow that they are fo…”
Books here
- settingCloud of Bone
Bernice Morgan
Distinct from the Fort Amherst entry already in the Atlas: this opening climb leads to St. Mary's Church on the south side of the harbour, where Holloway hides in the cavern beneath; CBC Books reproduces the opening verbatim.