Fort Belan

The fort was built in 1775 for a reported cost of £30,000 (equivalent to £}} million in ), by Thomas Wynn, then MP for Caernarfonshire and later to become Lord Newborough. He was worried about the vulnerability of Britain's coastline to attack, particularly because of the recently begun American War of Independence. Fort Belan was the only purpose-built fort of the American Revolution on the eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean. It guards a narrow passage of 35 m width. In the late 1780s, the barracks were used to ward off raiding American privateers from the Irish Sea but despite its military history, "no shots have been fired in anger from the fort". In the 1820s, the Wynn family turned it…

The fort's innermost buildings are slightly taller than the 20 ft stone walls. In the centre of the fort is a sheltered quadrangle; at one time, there were peacocks there. Fortified towers are located at either end of the courtyard. Each of the towers displays the two-headed eagle of the first Lord Newborough. Small two-storey houses that were used as officer and privates' quarters line the flanks, Approximately 24 cannons form a gun battery along the walls. One of the inner corridors is said to be the haunt of a phantom nursemaid.