Post medieval gun battery.


The Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1868 shows a rectangular earthwork marked as a fort at this location.


The earthwork is believed to have been constructed on the orders of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby, as part of his modernisation of the defences of the Isle of Man during the Great Civil War. The Stanleys were lords of Man and held the island for the Royalist cause.


Stanley was responsible for modernising the adjacent round masonry fort (PRN 0075) during the 1640s. Whilst the latter covers approaches to Derbyhaven from the sea, the earthwork fort may have been constructed as a means of protecting the stone fort from attack launched from the direction of Langness to the south-west.


The earthwork encloses an almost square area 20m long and wide, and the embankments, which are now very spread and only about 1m high, are 8m wide. There are traces of an additional embanked enclosure extending from the south-west side, though its purpose is unknown.


Wheeled traffic has caused erosion of the earthwork and vehicular access is now prevented.