Fort Burt is a colonial
fort
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
that was erected on the southwest edge of
Road Town
Road Town, located on Tortola, is the capital of the British Virgin Islands. It is situated on the horseshoe-shaped Road Harbour in the centre of the island's south coast. The population was about 15,000 in 2018.
The name is derived from the na ...
,
Tortola
Tortola () is the largest and most populated island of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in ...
in the
British Virgin Islands
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = Territorial song
, song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands"
, image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg
, map_caption =
, mapsize = 290px
, image_map2 = Brit ...
above Road Reef Marina. The site is now a hotel and restaurant of the same name, and relatively little of the original structure remains. However, one of the original cannons has survived and stands on the veranda of the hotel, vigilantly looking over the harbour.
The original structure is believed by some to have been built at an unascertained date by the original Dutch settlers of the islands, although this is not certain as Spanish documents from this time refer to other forts on Tortola (which they attacked) and they make no mention of a defensive fortification at Fort Burt although the route of their attack (from Soper's hole, through
Fort Purcell and on to
Fort George would have taken them directly by the site of Fort Burt. In his book, Vernon Pickering suggests that the British erected the Fort on a site that they "erroneously believed" to have been the site of an earlier Dutch fort.
[Vernon Pickering, ''Early history of the British Virgin Islands: From Columbus to emancipation'',]
However, the main fortification was built (or rebuilt) by the British in 1776 at the outbreak of the
American war of independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
.
The fort was named after
William Mathew Burt William Mathew Burt (c. 1725 – 27 January 1781) was a British politician and colonial administrator. He owned properties on Saint Kitts and Nevis and served as governor of the British Leeward Islands from 1776 until his death in 1781. He was also ...
,
Governor of the Leeward Islands from 1776 to 1781 (but not to be confused with Colonel William Burt, his great grandfather, who took the Territory for the British from the Dutch with a token force at the outbreak of the
Third Anglo-Dutch War
The Third Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Derde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog), 27 March 1672 to 19 February 1674, was a naval conflict between the Dutch Republic and England, in alliance with France. It is considered a subsidiary of the wider 1672 to 1678 ...
in 1672). Descendants of this family now live in Western Australia.
Fort Burt formed part of a formidable defensive network of forts around Road Town at this time, including
Fort Road Town (under what is now the site of the Boungainvillea clinic),
Fort George on Fort Hill on the north east side of the harbour, and
Fort Charlotte set high above on Harrigan's Hill.
Fort Burt never actually