Fort Purcell

[1] The fort was originally only earthen, and was occupied intermittently, but it was restored by the Dutch privateer Joost van Dyk in 1625 or 1626.

Colonel William Burt was dispatched to Tortola to oversee the annexation on the understanding that the island would be returned to the Dutch when peace was declared.

The English version suggests that Colonel Burt was sent to attack Tortola with a meagre force of 100 men, but that the Dutch immediately surrendered.

Recognising that he could not hold the island, Burt dismantled the forts and removed the weaponry before returning to Saint Kitts.

With the subsequent severe economic decline of the islands which accompanied the abolition of slavery, the Purcell plantation was abandoned, and the fort fell into ruin.

They are not protected or preserved by law, and the area surrounding the Fort is often used as a dumping ground for waste (ironically enough, the incinerator for destroying rubbish, for which there is no charge in the Territory, lies less than half a mile away in Pockwood Pond).

There are also periodic reports of amateur archaeologists using metal detectors and removing historical artifacts from the unexcavated areas around the site.