There is not likely to be any other 47 square mile area of land in the world which is as rich in built heritage as the Island of St Helena. 

Visitors to the Island land at the wharf, pass the17th century ‘glacis’ or ramparts/fortifications and through the town gate to the Grand Parade.  Main Street leads off the Grand Parade and up James valley.  Along this entire route almost every building is listed because of its historic importance.  Main Street is described as one of the best examples of unspoilt Georgian architecture anywhere in the world.

While both the historic fortifications houses and other structures remain unspoilt much work needs to be done to maintain and preserve them.  The St Helena National Trust is constantly seeking sources of funding in order to get people with specialist skills and knowledge to the Island to help with this task.

The most recent Build Heritage report has these conclusions as part of its Phase One report.

There are two main groups of historic fabric on Saint Helena, the military and the civilian. It should be recognised that evidence from both may be found over most of the island and neither is confined to Jamestown and its environs.

Military

The military constructions should be recognised as an interlinked network, with the connections between the larger sites an integral part pf the whole. The large batteries forts and barracks are the more obvious survivals; the revetted pathways, guard huts, water management features and the wealth of buried archaeology inevitably present are less obvious but equally important.

The islands military landscape is internationally significant because of the survival of this complete landscape, including the less obvious smaller structures which complete the picture and allow a considerably level of undersatnding and interpretation of the islands defence.

Half Moon Battery

Key Military structure types

This is a sample list indicating the range of material present, it is based on our brief visit to the island and therefore cannot reliably express a full typology of the military structures on the island.

• Fortified Lines
• Fixed Fortifications and Gun Batteries
• Barracks and Storehouses
• Forts
• Military road and Trackway

Domestic

The domedtic fabric of the island is far more complex than is first apparent. The relationship between town and countryside, genteel structures and the grittier working of the island and the ever present shadow of the military lend the place a very specific atmosphere. This atmosphere is only present because of the extraordinary levels of preservation both in terms of specific building survival and in terms of the more ephemeral specifics such as window glass, portable antiquities such as pots and guns, and the wider landscape features such as terraces, land boundaries, isolated housing and water management.

As with the military landscape it is the whole which makes it so significant. There are very few places in the world where the whole landscape is preserved as a unit with little modern intrusion.

Key domestic structure types

This is a sample list indicating the range of material present, it is based on our brief visit to the island and obviously cannot represent a full typology of the domestic structures on the island.

• Large town houses
• Small Houses
• Slave/servant quarters
• Warehouses and stores
• Mills and industrial buildings
• Government Buildings
• Harbour and dock facilities
• Field systems and landscape features
• Roads
• Water management structures
• Quarries
• Wrecks and marine archaeology

Broadway House - Jamestown