Standing at 601 feet above the sea level, it is the major early 19th-century fortification in Saint Vincent.

The British garrison were to use it for holding out against any French invading forces while the Royal Navy brought reinforcements from other islands.

[1] These institutions were housed in now-ruined barracks, facing Kingstown harbour at the bottom of the hill.

Some of the old barracks (the officers’ quarters) now house a small museum with a colourful painted history of the Black Caribs or Garifuna.

The islet is a volcanic plug of hard columnar basalt, and rises 195 foot out of the sea.