A BRIEF HISTORY OF FORT PERCH ROCK



In 1803 Liverpool merchants concerned about a possible invasion by the French during the Napoleonic wars put forward the idea of a fort at New Brighton. Naturally there were disputes about how it was to be financed and consequently construction didn’t get under way until 1826.



It was completed three years later. It was built out of red sandstone blocks on a base of sandstone rocks, confusingly known as the Black Rocks.


Designed by a Captain John Sikes Kitson of the Royal Engineers, it had room for 100 men plus officers with adequate provisions and armaments. It had 18 guns, sixteen of which were 32-pounders and they faced the Rock Channel that was the main entrance for shipping to the Mersey at that time. The ships passed 900 yards from the guns and the fort soon became known as the “Little Gibraltar of the Mersey”.