Fort Burt

However, one of the original cannons has survived and stands on the veranda of the hotel, vigilantly looking over the harbour.

[1] However, the main fortification was built (or rebuilt) by the British in 1776 at the outbreak of the American War of Independence.

The fort was named after William Mathew Burt, 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 in 1672).

The combination of the formidable martial defences of Road Town, and relatively small strategic and economic importance of Tortola persuaded both foreign colonial powers and privateers and pirates alike to focus on other targets within the region.

The fort later fell again into disrepair, and it was acquired in 1953 by Commander Christopher Hammersley and his socialite wife, who built what was then the only hotel on Tortola.