There are mounted altogether on the Land Front and its outworks four 32-pdrs, fourteen 24-pdr guns and eleven 24-pdr carronades, and in rear of it, covered by its ramparts is a bombproof barrack, constructed for 13 officers and 307 men, with tanks underneath for 120,000 gallons of water; and on the flanks of the barrack, but at a lower level, bombproof magazines for 2500 barrels of gunpowder, (but now unused owing to the dangerous proximity of the Dockyard new smitheries), and a range of bombproof buildings, containing Commissariat offices, storehouses, bakery, etc., and barrack stores.

– "Bermuda Defence Report, 17th July 1857", A.J. Hemphill, Colonel 26th Regiment, Commanding the Troops

On September 24, 1994, according to a notice board yet attached to the wall, the cell doors of the Casemates Prison were closed for the last time.

Known colloquially as "Channel View Hotel", the three great buildings of the Casemate Barracks reverted to their status before the prison was opened in 1963, as abandoned monuments of World Heritage status.

Pigeons rejoiced to have the whole property to themselves once again, especially as they had witnessed a population explosion over the previous three decades, due to the generous provisions provided by Bermuda's own cadre of "Birdmen of Alcatraz".

Two-legged vandals joined the birds of a feather and together, with the help of Father Nature (for ladies seem seldom to vandalise), they trashed the place. Defying the prison security arrangements, the vandals breached those defences in a number of places, meeting no resistance in the absence of prison guards.

A year or so ago, a gentleman visitor in his seventies related to me in my office that he did not need a tour of the Casemate Barracks, as he had found his way around the barbed wire on the Northwest Rampart, handing in open air for a few seconds as he swung over the obstacle. A forest of razor wire might now prevent such an intrusion.

Anything that could be removed and carried off in the night, (or more likely in broad daylight), was appropriated with loving care by the vandals, that is to say, thieves. The last item to escape from Bermuda's "Dartmoor" was the last of the original doors, complete with bronze hinges, of the gunpowder magazines: can you please return that heritage item? All questions will be asked.

In early 2006, with the approval of Lt. Col. David Burch, then chairman of the West End Development Corporation and later Minster of Works, a team of volunteers from the Bermuda Maritime Museum began pre-restoration work on the Barracks, leaving it to Bermuda's lone, official gunman to dispatch the pigeons.

Lately, the Casemates team has been involved with the government project to return Pender Road, which runs by the Barracks complex, into a two-way road, with industrial traffic using the lower, revised highway onto the docks of the South Yard of the old Dockyard.

Of several plans considered, it was ultimately agreed that the best solution for the historic gateway of the Dockyard was that its northern side should be moved ten feet to the north. This was deemed to be an absolute necessity because at its present width passing vehicles have been chipping away at the pillars. Unless widened, it was only a matter of time before one, or both, of the pillars are demolished by accident.

The Casemates volunteers were thus drafted in to deal with archaeological and other issues surrounding the widening of the Dockyard gate. Because of its proximity to that project, the security wall of Casemates Prison, erected in filled concrete block in the early 1960s, had to be removed and that was accomplished in good order on January 13, 2009, the team having cleared some matters in advance over the holidays.

Once the wall was taken down, the public was able to see into the Lower Ordnance Yard of the Casemates complex for the first time in half a century. As I wished to see what lay under the wall, the skilful machine operator, Charlie Chambers of Correia Construction, gently began to excavate into the subsoil below the level of Pender Road.

After a dozen judicious scoops of his bucket into rubble fill, two walls of Bermuda limestone were discovered that were otherwise unknown to history. Flanking these to the west, a finely constructed brick well, used as a soak-away for the drainage of the Lower Ordnance Yard, also appeared undamaged in the chance excavation. Well done, Charlie!

The sequence of the features found in the excavation is thus: The boundary wall of the Lower Ordnance Yard was built at the same time as the Bermuda stone building, the eastern wall of which forms part of the boundary wall, as seen in the 1890s photograph. Because of the fine masonry work on the two walls, it was assumed that they were meant to be in the open air, below road and courtyard level.

That presumption was clarified by the discovery of an offset to the wall of the building (which often, architecturally, marks a floor level), which contained an air vent, still having an iron grill as security against vermin. The vent suggested that the building had a basement room, or cellar, which has been partly confirmed by the extraction of a stone from the wall, the interior surface of which had been whitewashed, that is painted, a number of times.

The building would have been erected in the 1940s and subsequently it was reduced to cellar level and capped by a concrete pad, probably for use as a horse stable. The concrete will be removed, so that the interior of the cellar can be investigated. The open area, or sunken garden provided the space for the construction of the soak-away well, which took water from the floor of the presumed stables. Once that well was built, the sunken garden was filled with rubble, possibly in the later 1800s.

To the east of the boundary wall and building, an earlier surface of the road to Casemate Barracks and on to Commissioner's House was found under the tarmac of the Casemates Prison lower courtyard. Land drains were also located on either side of the road and to the east the original Bermuda stone perimeter wall of the entire Casemates complex was also located.

That unknown heritage has been recovered thanks to assistance from the Ministry of Works and Engineering and with the great help of Correia Construction, John Burnard Trucking, DB Mini Excavating, Accurate Excavating, A&M Construction Limited and the West End Development Corporation. Each contributed something to reopening the road to Casemate Barracks and a door in the past of the early features of the Bermuda Dockyard: thanks to all these heritage helpers.

Bermuda Maritime Museum and Casemates Volunteer Corps: Bringing Bermuda Heritage to you as it happens.

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Dr. Edward Harris, MBE, JP, FSA, Bermudian, is the Executive Director of the Bermuda Maritime Museum. This article represents his opinions and not necessarily those of persons associated with the Museum. Comments can be sent to drharrislogic.bm or by telephone to 332-5480.