Self-guided tour
Prince of Wales Tower National Historic Site
Interpretive panels at Prince of Wales Tower National Historic Site
Learn about the Prince of Wales Tower in the context of Halifax’s military history. Why is it here? How has it changed? With text, timelines, and images, these panels tell a story of fortification along the Atlantic Coast.
Why is it here?
Prince of Wales Tower: Why is it here? (PDF, 483KB)
British army engineers built Prince of Wales Tower to assist in the defence of Point Pleasant. The Tower's main purpose was to protect the landward approaches to the gun batteries located along the shores of what is now Point Pleasant Park. These batteries, in turn, defended seaward approaches into Halifax harbour and the entrance to the Northwest Arm.
The timeline at the bottom of these panels reveals how its use changed over time.
| 1794 | Prince Edward, fourth son of King George Ill, appointed military commander of Halifax. |
| 1796 | Edward approves the construction of a tower to defend Point Pleasant. |
| 1797 | Tower construction begins. |
| 1798 | Edward names the tower after his eldest brother George, the Prince of Wales. |
Prince of Wales Tower armament
| 1802 | Four 6-pounder guns on barracks level. Two 24-pounder guns and four 68-pounder carronades on top platform. |
| 1808-1810 | 68-pounder carronades progressively removed and replaced by 24-pounder carronades. |
| 1813 |
Four 6-pounder guns on garrison carriages on barracks level. Two 24-pounder guns on traversing platforms and six 24-pounder carronades on traversing slides on top. (This would remain for the next fifty years.) |
Just one part of a larger defence system
Beginning in 1749, the British army built a network of fortifications to defend their naval base in Halifax from enemy attack. Collectively named the Halifax Defence Complex, the fortifications include the Halifax Citadel, Georges Island, Fort McNab, York Redoubt, and a number of structures on Point Pleasant, one of which is the Prince of Wales Tower. This defensive network protected Halifax into the 19th century when it became one of the principal overseas naval bases of the British Empire.
The timeline at the bottom of these panels reveals how its use changed over time.
| 1805 | Gunpowder magazine built on ground floor (80-barrel capacity). Ground level door possibly added at this time. |
| 1811-1812 | Wooden roof replaced by arched stone one. |
| 1860-1864 | Converted to a storage magazine for gun powder. Rifle loopholes filled, new gun positions on the roof added. |
| 1866 | Most of Point Pleasant land leased to city for use as a park. |
Why a round tower?
Prince of Wales Tower: Why a round tower? (PDF, 603KB)
Prince of Wales Tower was the first of almost 200 towers, including five in the Halifax area, built around the British Empire for coastal defence. These structures apparently found their inspiration from a small stone tower at Mortella Point on the Corsican coast which had effectively resisted a joint British naval and land attack for several days in 1794. Though not a prototype for later British towers, which were often built with different features according to their settings, the Prince of Wales Tower did have a long life as an element in the overall Halifax Defence Complex.
The timeline at the bottom of these panels reveals how its use changed over time.
| 1906 | Responsibility for Tower transferred to Canadian Army from the British. |
| 1914-1918 | Tower inactive. Used mainly as storage facility. |
| 1936 | Responsibility for Tower transferred from the Department of National Defence to the department responsible for national parks and historic sites. |
| 1943 | Designated as a national historic site by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. |
| 1967 | Restored and opened to the public. |
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