Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 17

The Halifax Citadel, 1825-60: A Narrative and Structural History

by John Joseph Greenough

Abstract

As a result of the need to defend Halifax as the base of the British Navy in the North Atlantic, the British government decided in 1828 to build a permanent fortress in Halifax. Originally the work was to take six years and to cost £116.000. Because of a number of problems — inadequate design and climate being the worst — the work was not finished until 1857-60 and cost £242,122. This report discusses the history of the building, the background in which it took place, and the structure of the fortress and its individual components.

Submitted for publication, 1974, by John Joseph Greenough.