On Turning And Looking Back As You Approach
Bleak House, You Have An Excellent View Of The Citadel, And Of The Old
French Works Which Extend Beyond It, To The Extremity Of The Cape,
Overlooking L'Anse De Meres.
A little beyond Bleak-House, at the top of
what is generally known as Perrault's Hill, stands the Perrault [150]
homestead, dating back to 1820, l'Asyle Champetre - now tastefully
renovated and owned by Henry Dinning, Esq.
The roof and facade of a
Chalet Suisse would much enhance its appearance. The adjoining range of
heights, occupied by the Martello Towers, the Garneau and Bilodeau
Terraces, &c., were called the Buttes-a-Nepveu, after one of their first
French owners. "It was here that Murray took his stand on the morning of
April 28th, 1760, to resist the advance of Levis, and here commenced the
hardest-fought, the bloodiest action of the war, which terminated in the
defeat of Murray, and his retreat within the city". The Martello Towers
are bomb-proof, they were four [151] in number, and formed a chain of
forts extending along the ridge from the St. Lawrence to the River St.
Charles. The fact that this ridge commanded the city, unfortunately
induced Murray to leave it and attempt to fortify the heights, in which he
was only partially successful, owing to the frost being still in the
ground.
The British Government were made aware of the fact, and seeing that from
the improved artillery the city was now fully commanded from the heights,
which are about seven hundred yards distant, decided to build the Towers.
Arrangements were accordingly made by Col. Brock, then commanding the
troops in Canada. In 1806 the necessary materials were collected, and in
the following year their construction commenced. They were not, however,
completed till 1812. The original estimate for the four was L8,000, but
before completion the Imperial Government had expended nearly L12,000.
They are not all of the same size, but, like all Martello Towers, they are
circular and bomb-proof. The exposed sides are thirteen feet thick
and gradually diminish like the horns of the crescent moon, to seven feet
in the centre of the side next the city walls. The first or lower story
contains tanks, store-rooms and magazine; the second has cells for the
garrison, with port-holes for two guns. On the top there used to be one
68-pounder carronade, two 24 and two 9-pounders.
A party of Arnold's soldiers ascended these heights in November, 1775, and
advanced quite close to the city walls, shouting defiance at the little
garrison. A few shots soon dispersed the invaders, who retraced their
steps to Wolfe's Cove. At the Buttes-a-Nepveu great criminals were
formerly executed. Here, La Corriveau, the St. Vallier Lafarge, met her
deserved fate, in 1763, after being tried by one of Governor Murray's
Courts-martial for murdering her husband. After death she was hung in
chains, or rather in a solid iron cage, at the fork of four roads, at
Levi, close to the spot where the Temperance Monument has since been
built.
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