Camden Fort Meagher

Camden Fort Meagher
Near Crosshaven in County Cork in Ireland
Landward wall and moat of Fort Camden
Camden Fort Meagher
Coordinates	51°48′29″N 8°16′44″W / 51.808°N 8.279°W / 51.808; -8.279Coordinates: 51°48′29″N 8°16′44″W / 51.808°N 8.279°W / 51.808; -8.279
Type	Coastal defence fortification
Site information
Owner	Cork County Council
Open to the public	Yes (seasonal, weekends)
Condition	Largely restored
Website	Camdenfortmeagher.ie
Site history
Built	1550 (1550) (original structure) 1860 (1860)s (significant reconstruction)
In use	1980 (1980)s (demilitarisation)
Events	Siege of Kinsale (1601), Williamite War in Ireland (1690), Brennan torpedo installation (1891), Treaty Port handover (1938)
Garrison information
Occupants	British Armed Forces, Irish Defence Forces

Camden Fort Meagher is a coastal defence fortification close to Crosshaven, County Cork, Ireland. Together with similar structures at Fort Mitchell (Spike Island), Fort Davis (Whitegate), and Templebreedy Battery (also close to Crosshaven), the fort was built to defend the mouth of Cork Harbour. Though originally constructed in the 16th century, the current structures of the 45 acre fort (65% of which is underground) date to the 1860s. Originally named Fort Camden and operated by the British Armed Forces, the fort (along with other Treaty Port installations) was handed-over to the Irish Defence Forces in 1938. Renamed Fort Meagher in honour of Thomas Francis Meagher, it remained an Irish military installation until 1989 when the Irish Army handed the fort over to Cork County Council. It remained largely overgrown until 2010 when a group of local volunteers began restoration and development of the fort for heritage and tourism purposes. The fort was renamed Camden Fort Meagher and is now open seasonally to visitors, with exhibits on the fort's Brennan torpedo installation (the world's first "practical guided weapon") and one of the only resident 9/11 exhibits outside the United States.

The headland known as Ram's Head overlooks the entrance to Cork Harbour – one of the world's largest natural harbours, and historically of strategic defensive and naval importance to Ireland and the region. The first harbour defences built at Ram's Head date from 1550 and were originally known as James' Battery. This fortification was extended in 1600, but fell into disuse after the Nine Years' War. The fort was reinforced in 1690 to defend Cork Harbour during the Williamite War in Ireland, but a party secretly came ashore and took the fort in an overland assault. The ports at Cork and Kinsale were later captured by forces under the Williamite Duke of Marlborough.