Glimpse inside mighty Citadel on city seafront
IT is one of Plymouth’s most imposing edifices, though many in the city and Westcountry have never seen inside the Royal Citadel.
However, regular public tours of the site now enable people to get a behind-the-scenes look at the home of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, which this year celebrates its 60th anniversary.
The fortress was built in the late 1660s, designed by Sir Bernard de Gomme, on the site of an earlier fort that had been constructed in the time of Sir Francis Drake. The current Citadel was created to protect Plymouth from the Dutch – and to keep watch on a rebellious local populace.
The Citadel is built of limestone with an English Baroque gateway, designed by Sir Thomas Fitz, made of Portland stone. The gateway was originally approached by a drawbridge over a dry moat, but this was removed in the 1880s.
The Citadel predates Stonehouse Barracks and the Palmerston forts which are dotted around the city and has been listed as a scheduled monument since 1962. That was the year that 29 Commando was formed and took over the site.
The regiment is now celebrating its 60th anniversary and the Citadel is one of the few military bases where personnel from the Army, Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force can be found, as 29 Commando embraces all those services.
Major Dave Thatcher, the regiment’s quartermaster, said: “There has been artillery here since the Citadel was built. During the Second World War the Royal Artillery was here. Later 29 Field Regiment RA were based here, but in 1962 were transferred into 29 Commando.”
In more recent times, the Citadel was featured on television in the BBC series The Choir: Military Wives, in 2011. The following year, it hosted the tenth and final Music of the Night biannual celebration, which had been staged since 1992 and raised about £600,000 for charity.
English Heritage has organised public tours around the site. They will be available on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays until the end of October.
Tickets are available through Eventbrite at £12.50. To access the tour, ID must be shown, and only a passport or driving licence will be accepted. Children under 18 do not require ID.
People wishing to go on the tour must book by 1.30pm the previous day, and must not bring in phones, cameras, drinks, food or large bags for security reasons.
Visitors will be greeted at the Commando Monument at 2pm and should allow two hours for thoutdoor walking tour, with some steep inclines up to the ramparts, but accessible to both pushchairs and wheelchairs.
There are no toilets, parking facilities or refreshments available on site. For details: https://www.visitplymouth.co.uk/things-to-do/the-royalcitadel-p129923