Shirley Heights

This rambling array of gun emplacements and military buildings is best known today for the absolutely breathtaking prospect that it offers. From the Heights one can look far out over English Harbour, and on Sunday afternoons the view is accompanied by barbecue, rum punch, and the plangent strains of steel band and reggae music. The site is named for General Shirley, Governor of the Leeward Islands when the area was fortified in the late eighteenth century. Close by is the cemetery, in which stands an obelisk erected in honour of the soldiers of the 54th regiment.
This high ground was fortified in the late eighteenth century and the remains of old gun emplacements and military structures can be seen around the area. The heights were named after General Shirley who was the Governor of the Caribbean Leeward islands at the time of construction of the fortifications.
The Shirley Heights military complex stands guard at the most southerly point of Antigua, some 490 feet above sea level with a battery of guns protecting the narrow entrance to Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour. Together with the guns at Fort Berkeley on the other side of the harbour, the dockyard remained secure from attack. 

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