Church Bastion

The City Walls, built 1613-18, included eight bastions and two platforms. These bastions, which project out from the Walls were constructed where the Walls change direction, allowing soldiers to watch the long stretches of wall on either side. Cannon, were positioned here to fire out across the valley.

In 1622 this bastion was known as King James' bulwark in honour of James I. During the 1688-89 Siege, this bastion was renamed Church Bastion because of its proximity to St Columb's Cathedral.

A dry defensive ditch, 9 metres wide and 3.5m deep, would have run along the outside of the Walls from Double Bastion to Water Bastion. In the 19th century the bastions became private gardens.

The two cannon date from 1642 and their barrels are inscribed with the name of the London Company which commissioned them.