 The writer John Troutbeck, commenting at the end of the century, remarked on the tower having a "special bomb proof" roof, topped with high parapets.He noted, that although there while still some old iron artillery guns present, the site was still ungarrisoned and in a state of disrepair.The Crown, in the form of the Duchy of Cornwall, had leased the Scilly Isles to the Godolphin family in 1687, followed by Augustus Smith in 1834.