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Brimstone hills

This 38 acre fortress, dubbed "the Gibraltar of the east" is situated on the upper slopes of an 800 foot high mountain with superb views all around. Six other islands can be seen on a clear day and the scenery ranges from rainforests, which cap the mountains, through the gently sloping lands going down to the sea covered with the traditional patterns of greens and browns. Picturesque towns and villages are included in the scenery and these landscapes are all framed by the blue Caribbean Sea. Brimstone Hill's scenery is a photographer's paradise. The fortress has been named as a World Heritage Site due to its importance in history.

800 feet above sea level, stands a massive fortress. Historically, it commands outstanding views of the Caribbean, including Nevis, Montserrat, Saba, St. Martin, and St. Bart. Brimstone Hill sprawls over 38 acres. Defended by seven-foot-thick walls of black volcanic stone, there is where you get the name "Brimstone." In 1782 Brimstone Hill had been under continuous construction for almost nine decades. (Slave labor was used) In February of 1782, a French fleet of nearly 50 ships appeared on the horizon off St. Kitts and Nevis. Headed by Admiral Count Francois de Grasse, whose flagship was the huge 130-gun Vill de Paris, the fleet had been dispatched to force the British from the rich sugar colonies of St. Kitts & Nevis. That meant to dislodge the British from Brimstone Hill, otherwise know as the "Gibraltar of the West Indies"

Brimstone Hills History

Historical Background

St. Christopher, the first Caribbean island to be permanently settled by both the English and the French (who shared the island between 1627 and 1713 ), was a model and a springboard for English and French colonialism in the Caribbean and elsewhere.

The native Amerindians were virtually exterminated, and African people brought in as slaves. The plantation system, based upon sugar production and slavery, which came to characterise Caribbean ( or "West Indian" ) society, had its beginnings in St. Christopher and the other early colonies.

The Caribbean islands produced great wealth and were well worth defending. Fortifications had been the earliest colonial structures, and every island had its own network of coastal defences. But the scale and magnificence of the Brimstone Hill Fortress signified the actual and symbolic importance of St. Christopher during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Brimstone Hill Fortress

The Fortress, constructed intermittently between the 1690s and 1790s, is of singular importance as being the remains of a large, complete military community of the 18th century. As such, it is a veritable time capsule of international significance.

The prominent Citadel is one of the earliest and finest surviving examples of a new style of fortification known as the 'polygonal system'.

Brimstone Hill is nearly 800 feet high with steep and precipitous slopes which had to be tamed by the disciplines of engineering and architecture, and at the risk and probable loss of human lives. The walls of the structures are predominantly of stone, labouriously and skilfully fashioned from the hard volcanic rock of which the hill is composed. The mortar to cement the stones was produced on site from the limestone which covers much of the middle and lower slopes. The Fortress is virtually a man-made out growth of the natural hill.

The physical location of the Fortress presents attractive panoramic vistas of forested mountains, cultivated fields, the historical township of Sandy Point, and neighbouring Dutch, English and French islands across the Caribbean Sea.

Grand Canyon Facts

Cannon were first mounted on Brimstone Hill in 1690, when the British used them to recapture Fort Charles from the French.
The French had not considered it possible to transport cannon up the steep and thickly wooded sides of Brimstone Hill. The construction of the fort then carried on intermittently for just over 100 years.
In its heyday, the fort was known as 'The Gibraltar of the West Indies', in reference to its imposing height and seeming invulnerability.
In 1782, the French, under Admiral Comte François Joseph Paul de Grasse laid siege to the fort. During the siege, the adjacent island of Nevis surrendered, and guns from Fort Charles and other small forts there were brought to St. Kitts for use against Brimstone Hill.
British Admiral Hood could not dislodge de Grasse, and after a month of siege, the heavily outnumbered and cut-off British garrison surrendered. However, a year later, the Treaty of Paris (1783) restored St. Kitts and Brimstone Hill to British rule, along with the adjacent island of Nevis.
Following these events, the British carried out a program to augment and strengthen the fortifications, and Brimstone Hill never again fell to an enemy force.

Getting There

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