.                          The Sundial

The latest restoration project undertaken by the Friends of Belan

has now been completed and the Fort’s unique sundial has been returned to it former glory!

Tomos Jones of Momo Signs www.momosigns.co.uk undertook the restoration work.  When the many layers of peeling paint were removed from the slate base it was revealed that whilst the markings are finely etched the wording at the top had been painted free-hand.  Tomos has done an excellent job and the high quality of his work is self-evident.

The dial was made by Francis Barker was one of the most important makers of sundials and scientific instruments of his period.

                                                         Past Events

    We flew the flag and fired the cannon to mark the Fort becoming a  member of                                                      the Historic Houses Association!

The Anglesey Hussars played an important role by welcoming the visitors at the main gate and pointing out some of the fort's most interesting features.The Hussars have now established a small barracks in the forge area and are able to demonstrate the way of life in 1775 when the'Caernarfonshire Militia Volunteers' garrisoned the Abermenai barracks

• When the barracks was extended in 1824 it was re-named Fort St David and was then garrisoned by the 'Loyal Newborough Volunteers'.

• The name was subsequently chaged twice more, in 1840 becaming known as Belan Fort and when opened to the public in 1977 the name was changed again, this time to Fort Belan.

• The fort is proud to be currently ‘garrisoned’ by The Anglesey Hussars,another voluntary organisation.

• A packed audience heard Phil Godsal, Chair of the Welsh branch of the HHA, give an introductory talk about the Association. He was keen to visit the fort and had offered to give an introductory talk. This provided an ideal opportunity to combine his visit with a celebration of the fort becoming a member and to enable us all to learn more about the Association.

• To add further interest to the day, this was followed by an illustrated lecture by Jeremy Rye,who has a tremendous knowledge of Welsh historic houses. It wasentitled“Wales built Heritage, lost, in danger and saved”. It was sad to see photographs of so many unusual and fantastic houses which no longer remain, and a reminder that work has to be ongoing if the historic houses which remain are not to suffer the same fate and be lost to future generation.

Michael Lunts

'The Enigma of Elgar'

Sunday April 16^that the Fort.

In honour of the Queen

On Monday September 19th, the day of the Queen's funeral, the sound of cannon resonated across the Strait.  Led by cannon expert Yaron Thau, the Hussars of Anglesey came to the Fort and fired the cannon, and Belan became one of the many batteries in the UK to pay tribute in this way.  

Filming at the Fort.

Please see 'Fort Events' for details and a video.

Restoration work

Railings to the turrets

As part of FOBA's project to restore, (where possible), the rusting iron work at the fort, new railings have now been fabricated and fitted to the turrets.

Please see the pictures which are on the 'Recent Achievements' page and read details of the work involved.

Cannon

Steve Penfield, a long-time FOBA member, kindly offered to restore three of the cannon on a voluntary basis. He and his sons have done a brilliant job! They are members of the Guild of Master Craftsmen.

The FOBA committee has now agreed to fund the restoration of the five cannon which are alongside these three and has asked Steve to carry on in the same way.  Work is already well underway.

The Bakehouse

The restoration of the interior of the bakehouse has  been completed.  There are photos on  the 'Recent Achievements' page.  Work is now underway on the roof.

Railings to the turrets

As part of FOBA's project to restore, (where possible), the rusting iron work at the fort, new railings have now been fabricated and fitted to the turrets.  This work has been completed and pictures with an explantion of what was involved can be seen on the 'Recent Achievements' page