Fort Charlotte was a historic military fortification located on the island of Antigua, in the country of Antigua and Barbuda. It was built in 1745 and later expanded, situated at the entrance to English Harbour in Saint Paul parish.
Location and Origins
The fort was constructed during the 1740s as part of a wider program of harbor defense associated with the development of the Naval Dockyard in English Harbour. It was originally called the South East Point Battery and consisted of two gun platforms, a guard house, a kitchen, and latrines, armed with 11 cannons. By 1755, the battery had been significantly upgraded and renamed the Horseshoe Battery.
Renaming as Fort Charlotte
In 1781, Thomas Shirley, the recently appointed Governor of the Leeward Islands, urged the colonial government to strengthen the fortifications around and above English Harbour to better protect the Naval Dockyard. As part of this defense upgrade, a larger gun platform was built above Horseshoe Battery to function as a signal or communication station. Upon this expansion, the fort was renamed Fort Charlotte in honor of Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III.
Defensive Function
Fort Charlotte had an iron chain that was strung across the harbor's entrance from Fort Berkeley, which guarded the western entrance to English Harbour. The chain could be raised to prevent vessels from entering the harbor, providing a defensive barrier for the Naval Dockyard.
Decline and Current Status
By the 1840s, the fort had been decommissioned. In 1843, an earthquake destroyed the majority of Fort Charlotte's structures. As a result, little remains of the fort's lower section, with only the gun platform and the foundations of the guard house remaining from its upper section.
In 1984, the remains of Fort Charlotte became part of Nelson's Dockyard National Park. In 2016, the site was incorporated into a larger UNESCO World Heritage Site designated as "The Antigua Naval Dockyard and Related Archaeological Sites," which recognized the English Harbour dockyard and surrounding military archaeological sites collectively. The fort is accessible via a short nature trail called the Carpenter Rock Trail.
