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Fort Wynyard Green Point, Cape Town, Western Cape

Date: 1862 : 1888-1892 Type: Fort Status: Extant

'Following the American Civil War of 1861 and the fear of a war between Great Britain and the United States, Rear-Admiral Sir Baldwin Walker urged the Governor at the Cape to adopt his ideas for re-arming of Kyk-in-de-Pot Battery which overlooked Granger Bay near Cape Town. In February 1862 work started on the new battery, Fort Wynyard, also known as Wynyard Battery, was remodelled between 1888 and 1892. In 1962 Wynyard Battery became the headquarters of the South African Navy's Coast Artillery Maintenance Unit in Cape Town. Fort Wynyard was proclaimed a National Monument on 14 May 1976, and in 1975 the Fort was converted into an open air military museum.' [Extracted from Alberts. 1992:102] Now a Provincial Heritage Site: see SAHRIS. See also: Bisset, W.M. 1979. 'A Short History of Fort Wynyard, Table Bay Defences' in Militaria Vol 9 No 4 pg 49. Books that reference Fort Wynyard Alberts, Paul. 1992. South African military buildings photographed : an historical heritage. Cape Town: The Gallery Press. pg 102