Monument record 7514 - Stornoway

'No explicit evidence, either of these forts or of the castle, which was also garrisoned (and must have been repaired since 1613), now remains but a well said to have been sunk for the benefit of the Commomwealth troops near the junction of South Beach and Kenneth Street was still visible in the early twentieth-century. One fortification was apparently sited on Goat Island, just offshore from Stornoway (figure 8).Lilburne informed Cromwell on the 5th of July1653 that Seaforth was 'resolute for the king and is fortifying a small island near Stornoway'. This might equally apply to both the small islands on which the castle stood and to Goat Island.'(E.Dennison and R.Coleman,1997,24)
'A plan purporting to be the Cromwellian fort,'' 'the ground plan of the fortification at Stornoway upon Lewis Island', dating apparently to 1653, gives some detail of it's establishment figure9.A 'manor house' was enclosed. This mat have been an existing feature, related to the earlier fisheries.A church presumably that which was being built by Colin MacKenzie, first earl of Seaforth, in 1630, functioned as a dormitory for 200 soliders. There were store houses 'two or three loft high', probably also a relic from the fisheries, and a brew-house. The plan suggests that the fort was protected by the sea, with possibly flooded fields to the north, on two sides, which would mean that it did not stand further inland than the neck of Point; it was also flanked by trenches, twenty feet wide and fifteen feet deep, on the two landward sides. Two draw wells are depicted, one insde the fort and the other to the east. The fort on the island is also portrayed, as is the castle; interestingly, it is shown as having a causeway linking it to the mainland.'(E.Dennison and R.Coleman,1997,25)

'The name of Cromwell Street [R] is a useful reminder of the fort built here in the seventeenth-century(see pp 24-5). The exact location remains unclear, despite the existance of a plan (figure9), but it would appear to have been sited close to the edge of town [O].Cromwell Street has been postulated as its easternmost limit, which was marked by a ditch. Within the fort were a range of buildings,including a dormitory or barracks, store house, a brew-house, and two wells (one situated insde the fort, the other just outside), contained within a complex defended by ditches on the east and west sides measuring '20 feet wide, fifteen feet deep'. The barracks was in fact an existing church converted for use by the soliders, while a 'manor-house', also enclosed within the fort and probably used by the officers, is thought to have been built by either the Dutch or English fishing fleets for their Stornoway manager. There are two possible locations for this fort, either to go to the west or to the east of Cromwell Street. If the former is correct, it may be defined by Bank Street, Cromwell Street, North and South Beach (see figure 3). If it is the latter, the present street pattern is less of a guide.The fact that existing buildings were taken over and cnoverted by the soliders suggests itwas close to town, and indeed some of the solidiers were garrisoned in the town itself.The plan also shows the town to the east and west of the fort, and water to the north and the south. Both would be unlikely if the fort lay to the east of Cromwell Street.'(E.Dennison and R.Colemann,1997,50)

E. Patricia Dennison & Russel Coleman, 1997, Historic Stornoway: the archaeological implications of development (Bibliographic reference). SWE41004.