Connaught Battery Park

This page is a subpage of Natural History/Specific Areas

Connaught Battery Park is not in the Backlands per se, but adjacent and shares the same landscape.

Comments Sheila Stevenson who forwarded the Connaught Battery Park Integrated Master Plan (below): ” A working group from Purcells and Fergusons Coves commissioned this plan, presented in 2011 to HRM’s Peter Bigelow and Co, when HRM had let the lease lapse. HRM renewed the lease and made some upgrades to paths and signage, but have not kept it up because HRM has been trying to negotiate a better deal with the Province who, at last report in summer 2022 from Doug Reid in HRM parks PLanning, wasn’t interested! Consequently HRM is doing some minimal maintenance but has removed the playground equipment. At the time we noted to the planning students and to HRM staff that we were hopeful for protection of the Backlands and saw CBP as connected.”

View: Connaught Battery Park Integrated Master Plan (46 MB, 118 pages)
April 2011.
Prepared for: The Working Group for the Ferguson’s Cove and Purcell’s
Cove Neighbourhood Associations, by Bluestone Planning & Design.
“This work is a senior project produced in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the
Master of Planning programme at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2011”

EXTRACTS

The Planning Team: Bluestone Planning & Design is a team of four Master of Planning candidates from Dalhousie University’s School of Planning.The team brings a diverse knowledge base, skill sets and experiences to planning projects.

Shaan Desai: Shaan has a background in geography and specializes in environmental planning and climate change. He brings several technical skills to the Bluestone team, specifically GIS analysis and visual representation.

Troy Gonzalez: With a background in archaeology,Troy adds historical depth to Bluestone’s planning work.Troy brings expertise and practical experience in municipal sustainability planning as well as urban history to the planning team.

Lama Issa: Lama’s background in architecture brings imagination and precision to the Bluestone team. Lama’s expertise and experience lends itself to site planning and visual representation.

Daniel Scott: Daniel brings community engagement and facilitation skills to Bluestone Planning.With a background in anthropology and geography he applies a combined social and environmental research approach to planning projects.

Park Overview

Connaught Battery Park is a 21.7 acre coastal property in the Ferguson’s Cove community of Halifax Regional Municipality. With exceptional views of the Halifax Harbour and harbour approach, the park is a relic of the city’s military past and a cherished open space enjoyed by the residents of the Purcell’s Cove and Ferguson’s Cove communities.

Connaught Battery Park presents a valuable opportunity to enhance public access to the coast.The elevation and orientation of the site afford a unique view shed that includes a comprehensive picture of forts in the Halifax Defence Complex. As a cultural landscape the park provides a window onto part of the city’s historical identity.

The park also provides an excellent resource for both passive and active recreational use for the neighbouring communities of Purcell’s Cove and Ferguson’s Cove .The site was first developed as a park in the 1990s after years of neglect following the land transfer from the federal to provincial government. Since 1996 the municipality has leased the land for use as a community park, investing in substantial site preparation and development of recreation facilities. Park development has occurred largely on an ad hoc basis.A long-term planning framework to guide the acquisition, management and further investment in Connaught Battery Park is desirable.

In response to a request by the Joint Working Group for the Purcell’s Cove and Ferguson’s Cove Neighbourhood Associations a group of Master of Planning students from Dalhousie University have prepared this Integrated Master Plan for Connaught Battery Park.

Recognizing the park’s importance as a community recreation amenity and a site that provides public access to the coast through exceptional views, the Integrated Master Plan provides a long-term vision and directions for planning and design of Connaught Battery Park.

Plan Purpose and Process

The plan has the following objectives:

• To create a site design for Connaught Battery Park by situating it within an open space planning framework.

• To include meaningful community participation in setting park priorities and contributing to the site design process.

• To encourage HRM’s long-term interest in Connaught Battery Park as a community open space resource.

– Connaught Battery
Halifax Military Preservation Society
Photos, older amd recent. “The gun battery, part of the extensive Halifax Defence Complex, was built at Ferguson’s Cove near York Redoubt 1912-1916 and was operational during the latter part of the First World War. It was named in honor of and officially opened by the Duke of Connaught, a son of Queen Victoria who was also Canada’s Governor General at the time. Located on a 2.5 hectare site, the battery had a commanding view of the outer harbour. It included three 4.7 quick firing guns, barracks for a 70 man garrison drawn from the 1st (Halifax) Regiment, Canadian Garrison Artillery and was used to train troops before their deployment overseas. Following the end of hostilities the battery’s status was downgraded. During the Second World searchlights were operated at the site and it was used as temporary service quarters. It was designated a National Historic Site and today serves as a municipal park.

Connaught Battery and the Defence of the Atlantic Coast,
1906-1941
Roger Sarty & Bruce Ellis, Canadian Military History 18, 2 (2009)

“Connaught Battery, on the shores of Halifax harbour, has virtually been ignored by historians despite its prominence during a pivotal period in Canadian maritime defence. 1 After taking over the fortifications of Halifax from the British army in 1905-6, when the Imperial armed forces withdrew from the Canadian coasts, the Dominion government built the battery from 1913 to 1916 as part of a larger programme to bring the fortress up to date. The battery’s story bridges the transformation of the fortress from a British bastion against the United States to a Canadian strongpoint that guarded the North Atlantic shipping lanes upon which Britain’s survival depended during
the two world wars…”

Connaught Battery
On https://fortwiki.com Short description, some photos. Cites this useful map with diff. layers: Multi Maps from ACME