On 4 May 2012, on what might be considered the 175th anniversary of the completion of the works, a team of volunteers from XL Group in Bermuda, assaulted the Casemate Barracks and the defences of the Dockyard known as the ‘Land Front’. Before you leap from the embattlements on a false assumption, one immediately advances to state that the attack was not of a military nature, but rather a civilian one that was part of the XL ‘Global Day of Giving’. In that action, troops from XL’s office in Hamilton ventured forth from their computerised environment to spend the day assisting the community using more basic technological tools, such as paintbrushes, brooms and whatnot.In the case of the XL volunteers’ day in the sun (and dust) at the Dockyard, buckets, shovels, hoes and sledgehammers took precedence over heavier implements of destruction, as the entire upper floor of the Barracks was cleared of recent debris and on the Land Front parts of an old tank for salt water flushing were dispatched to oblivion. The lower reaches of a small Guard House on the ramparts of the Land Front were also discovered and revealed to the public for the first time in perhaps a hundred years.All in all, the diverse soldiers from the XL Global Day of Giving gave their all at the Casemates end, or rear, of the Dockyard, and a tremendous amount of restoration work was accomplished in one mere day. The thanks of the National Museum are extended to all, and in particular to their XL general, Col. Sumner H. (Chip) Waters USA (ret), who also commanded the work as a Trustee of the Museum.Working on the ‘rear’ of the Dockyard in no way implies a diminution of that work, or indeed of that area of the old Royal Naval base in itself. It is just a military term that indicates the back of the fortifications of a place, as opposed to the ‘front’ that generally faces towards the enemy. At the Bermuda Dockyard, the front of the fortifications faced the sea to the north at ‘The Keep’, where the National Museum is located and which is the largest fort on the island at ten acres. In the period during which the defences of the Dockyard were designed, it was assumed that the enemy (the Americans) would first come by sea. However, the rear of the Dockyard was also heavily defended, that is to say, the area facing southwest towards Somerset called the ‘Land Front’, from whence an attack might come overland from the beaches of the south coast of Bermuda, so that the area had two fronts, one of which was a rear.It was on the high ramparts of the Land Front that the XL volunteers continued work on the fortifications that they began on their Global Day of Giving in 2011. Their assaults on the area are intended to assist in the heritage defence of the Land Front through its restoration as part of a major historical area, indeed one of the largest ever made, as it were, by the British in the Americas. Perhaps it may be of interest to outline the development of the Dockyard, so that their fine volunteer efforts are put into a chronological perspective.The first period of the Dockyard is captured in a chart of 1818, which shows the incursions of the Royal Navy and Royal Engineers on Ireland Island, after the local farmers, with some compensation, were sent packing to some other markets. Around Grassy Bay, several buildings had been erected to administer the Dockyard and its construction.More important, seen on the left, a defensive ditch had been cut across the Island and in its centre was a round fort, possibly a Martello Tower like the one now found at Ferry Reach. Quarrying of the hard limestone of the Dockyard was advancing, but after ten years, the place was still somewhat embryonic.In the second phase starting in 1823 with the arrival of convict labour, the first fortifications were swept away and replaced with the massive works seen here imposed on the Fulton map of Ireland Island North. In this period, the Commissioner’s House and the Casemate Barracks were built. Starting in 1847, the third phase of construction ushered in the construction of all the great stone buildings of the working Dockyard, the last of which was completed in 1875.In later times, the guns of the Dockyard were remodelled with newer types of weapons and the place served well through both world wars. In 1995, following the end of the Cold War, the Royal Navy left Bermuda after a presence of two centuries, in concert with US and Canadian forces. What was left behind was one of the largest heritage treasures of the British Empire in the Americas, unguarded from the ravages of time and disinterested bureaucrats.In 1974, the maritime museum was established in the Keep and has now transitioned into the National Museum of Bermuda, with the addition of the Land Front and the Casemate Barracks.The Museum thus encompasses all of the fortifications of the Bermuda Dockyard and the historic grounds and buildings within. Acting as the heritage anchor of the Dockyard, the Museum has thus helped to foster the use of the area as a major heritage destination for visitors, residents and Bermudians, and thus in the creation of new jobs.The restoration work carried out by the teams from XL –contribute much to the efforts of the Museum to preserve and –display that heritage and Bermuda is indebted to them and to all the other contributors of all types for creating such a heritage centre out of the rubble, if you will, of a military entity that was for almost 200 years the greatest British Naval base in the Americas.Edward Cecil Harris, MBE, JP, PHD, FSA is Executive Director of the National Museum at Dockyard. Comments may be made to director@bmm.bm or 704-5480.