The Spur Battery and Prince Williams Bastion are both entered via a gateway in the ditch wall.
The Sunken Courtyard
As it's name suggests this area of the fort on the Spur battery is sunken into a ditch. It was built into part of an original dry ditch that was later adapted when the Spur Battery was added on to Prince Williams Bastion. The casemates at the front of the ditch are flanking galleries where both muskets and cannons could be used to defend part of the Spur battery ditch and part of Prince Williams ditch. Inside,some of the casemates have fire places and all of the rooms have vents in for air and to help clear smoke.
On one side of the Sunken Courtyard is a magazine and a small room under the stairs which was probably used to store lamps and magazine equipment.
Early in the 19th century floggings were carried out on the Spur Battery for Soldier prisoners. The soldiers were stripped to the waist and pinioned to a triangle structure by their wrists,elbows,knees and ankles and then given lashes. The whole regiment was present and sometimes the whole garrison and they formed a sqaure. The younger drum boys were compelled to be there also and sometimes they drummed to cover the cries of suffering of the prisoner being lashed.
Gun ports in the casemates seen from the dry ditch.
