Qualla: Old Blockhouse https://qualla.com/old-blockhouse en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:10 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/g/s/old-blockhouse-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Old Blockhouse https://qualla.com/old-blockhouse Old Blockhouse: Introduction https://qualla.com/old-blockhouse/ Photo credit Public domain. On a rocky knuckle above Old Grimsby harbour, three squat stone walls hold the shape of a vanished gun platform. This is the Old Blockhouse, raised between 1548 and 1551 under the young king Edward VI as part of a hurried Tudor effort to bolt the back door of England against a French invasion that never quite came. The cannons it was built to fight stayed silent for a century. Then, in April 1651, the guns finally spoke - not against the French, but against a Parliamentary fleet sent to crush the last Royalist holdouts of a civil war. The fort is one of the very few coastal defences in England ever to have actually fought.

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Image: Public domain

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/g/s/old-blockhouse-wp/gbgs-old-blockhouse-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Old Blockhouse: Edward's Worry https://qualla.com/old-blockhouse/ Photo credit Hchc2009, CC BY-SA 3.0. Henry VIII had built artillery castles around England's southern coast in the 1530s and 40s, alarmed by the long-range cannons that were starting to outclass medieval walls. When Henry died and his nine-year-old son Edward VI inherited the throne, his ministers continued the work...

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Image: Hchc2009 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/g/s/old-blockhouse-wp/gbgs-old-blockhouse-edwards-worry.mp3 0:06 2 full Old Blockhouse: The Fight Above the Harbour https://qualla.com/old-blockhouse/ Photo credit Public domain. After the English Civil War, the Scilly Isles became the unlikely last redoubt of the Royalist cause. The islands sheltered privateers who preyed on Parliamentary shipping, and there were rumours that the Dutch might seize the archipelago as a base against England. In April 1651,...

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Image: Public domain

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/g/s/old-blockhouse-wp/gbgs-old-blockhouse-the-fight-above-the-harbour.mp3 0:06 3 full Old Blockhouse: Slow Decay, Quiet Rescue https://qualla.com/old-blockhouse/ Photo credit Public domain. When the Duke of Marlborough sent Christian Lilly to inspect the Scilly defences in 1715, the engineer found the blockhouse "very much decayed," only the walls still standing. He recommended £28 in repairs and the addition of windows and a fireplace so the troops could actually l...

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Image: Public domain

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/g/s/old-blockhouse-wp/gbgs-old-blockhouse-slow-decay-quiet-rescue.mp3 0:06 4 full Old Blockhouse: What Remains https://qualla.com/old-blockhouse/ Photo credit Lambert, CC BY-SA 2.0. Walk out from New Grimsby across Tresco and follow the coast path north-east, and the Old Blockhouse comes into view above the small curve of Old Grimsby beach. The square platform that held the guns is roofless now, its rubble walls weathered to the same grey as the boulders bel...

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Image: Lambert | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/g/s/old-blockhouse-wp/gbgs-old-blockhouse-what-remains.mp3 0:06 5 full