Fort Perch Rock
grade II* listed fort in New Brighton, Wirral, Merseyside, England, UK
Fort Perch Rock is a former defence installation situated at the mouth of Liverpool Bay in New Brighton, Merseyside, England. Built in the 1820s to defend the Port of Liverpool, it is now a tourist attraction and museum. It has been used as a venue for musical concerts and is a Grade II* listed building. The fort's cafe "The Mess" is open daily from 9 a.m. A World War 2 escape room concept "Escape the Fort" runs within the fort.
History
Fort Perch Rock is a coastal defence battery built between 1825 and 1829, with the foundation stone being laid in 1826. It was built to protect the Port of Liverpool and proposed as a fortified lighthouse to replace the old Perch Rock Light; however, a separate lighthouse was built. The fort was built on an area known as Black Rock, and was cut off at high tide. However, coastal reclamation has made it fully accessible.
The fort covers an area of about 4,000 square yards (3,300 m2), with enough space for 100 men.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Fort Perch Rock” as grade II* listed fort in New Brighton, Wirral, Merseyside, England, UK. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as grade II* listed fort in New Brighton, Wirral, Merseyside, England, UK. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5471816. Authority coordinates are 53.443, -3.041. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1825, 1829 and 1826.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Fort Perch Rock” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.