TopNational Historic Site · 1859–1861Fisgard Lighthouse603 Fort Rodd Hill RoadPhoto: Bruce Tuten · CC BY 2.0 · Commons file
Gun Emplacement and Magazine, Lower Battery · Photo: Ymblanter · CC BY-SA 4.027historic places on the registers
History of Colwood · Canada’s heritage registers
Heritage in Colwood: 27 historic places, 7 of the highest rank
The record has 20 Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings. Scaled to its population Colwood’s record is long: 12 per 10,000 residents, more than 98% of Canadian towns. Go back to 1859 and you reach Fisgard Lighthouse, the oldest of them. Homes from before 1961 are 9.8% of the stock, under the 18% of the typical town.
Historic places
27
12 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
7
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Other federal designations
20
Recognized buildings, railway stations, lighthouses
Oldest building
1859
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
9.8%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Historic Colwood: 7 photos, 1 old pictures
Photos show 7 of the places Colwood’s registers name; the others show their record instead. Of Colwood’s most honoured places, 5 are photographed. Among them: “Gun Emplacement and Magazine, Lower Battery” and Hatley Park / Former Royal Roads Military College.
Hatley Park / Former Royal Roads Military College
Fisgard Lighthouse
Fort Rodd Hill
Gun Emplacement and Magazine, Upper Battery
Grant Block, Building 24+2See all photosPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Through time
The old face of Colwood
The oldest view of one of its historic places, made before 1950. A tap opens it at full size, with its credit.
1939Public domain or CC0, made before 1950, from Wikimedia Commons; old views of places can be drawings, prints or maps of their time. Each credit opens the image’s page.
The map
Where Colwood’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsOther federal designations400 m from Fort Rodd Hill
4 of 7within 400 m of Fort Rodd Hill, the heart of the town’s history
Hover a dot for its name; tap one to open its page.
The 27, by tier
7 Highest designations20 Other federal designations
What the map shows is the open record: the federal directory in full, and from provincial or municipal lists only the places Wikidata ties to an encyclopedia article.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there. 20 places, placed by their register’s municipality, have no point and aren’t on the map.
Highest designations
7 places in Colwood with the highest designation
Their dates run from 1859, with Fisgard Lighthouse, to 1908. Here that means 4 Classified Federal Heritage Buildings and 3 National Historic Sites. National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
TopNational Historic Site · 1895–1898Fort Rodd Hill603 Fort Rodd Hill RoadPhoto: Storeswallah · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
TopNational Historic Site · 1908–1914Hatley Park / Former Royal Roads Military College2005 Sooke RoadPhoto: Smably · Public domain · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1895–1899Gun Emplacement and Magazine, Lower BatteryPhoto: Ymblanter · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file
TopClassified Federal Heritage Building · 1895–1899Gun Emplacement and Magazine, Upper BatteryPhoto: Ymblanter · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file
Classified Federal Heritage Building · 1898–1901Gun Emplacement, Magazine and Director's Tower, Belmont Battery
Classified Federal Heritage Building · 1908–1911Hatley Castle1 Royal Roads
Other federal designations
Federal heritage in Colwood: 20 more places
Their designations span 1990 to 2003. Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. The oldest, “Guardhouse, Lower Battery”, dates from 1895; the newest from 1959. Each one opens its own page.
All 20, A to Z
Belmont Road Main GatehouseCow Barn and Dairy RR6Defence Electric Light Number 1Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site, Lower Battery, Casemate Barracks (6 Buildings)Fort Rodd Hill, Battery Commander’s PostFort Rodd Hill, CanteenFortress Plotting RoomGatehouse LodgeGrant Block, Building 24Guard House Building 38Guardhouse, Lower BatteryGuardhouse, Upper BatteryGymnasium RR22HouseNixon Block RR24ASearchlight Engine RoomSearchlight N° 7Stable / Garage RR4Swimming Pool RR22AWarrant Officer's Quarters
Historic streets
Searchlight System and Ocean Boulevard have the most
Streets with three or more places on the registers, by the address each gives.
Searchlight System3 on the registers
Ocean Boulevard3 on the registers
Lower Battery3 on the registers · 1 top designation
19 of the 27 places have a street address on their record.
What’s designated
67% of Colwood’s historic places are forts and military buildings
All told, 5 kinds of place appear. Next come houses: 2. At the head of the list: Fisgard Lighthouse and Fort Rodd Hill.
Forts and military buildings18
Houses2
Stations, lighthouses and bridges1
Public buildings1
Other places5
Kinds read from each place’s name and the functions its register gives; a building keeps the kind it was built as.
How old
Most of Colwood’s dated places come from the decades after Confederation
Each place by the first construction date on its record.
British North America 1760–18661
After Confederation 1867–191317
Wars and Depression 1914–19457
Since 1946 1946 on2
One of the 27 dated places was built before Confederation.
When designated
Colwood on the registers since 1958
The places by the year of their designation.
1997 · 13
19401960198020002020
The earliest designation is Fisgard Lighthouse’s, from 1958. The busiest year was 1997, with 13. Nothing has been added since 2011.
Homes by age
Colwood is still building: 13% of homes date from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
Count back from today and half of Colwood’s homes are older than 2001. Colwood’s largest group of homes, 32%, went up from 1961 to 1980. Homes built from 2001 to 2015 make up 21% of Colwood’s, against 15% in the typical town.
9.8%
Before 1961
32%
1961–80
25%
1981–2000
21%
2001–15
13%
2016–21
ColwoodTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Towns its size
Colwood has the most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 22,600 to 23,000 residents, by places on the registers.
Colwood27
The typical town its size has 0. 10 of them have none.
Neighbours
Colwood and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colwood | 22,794 | 27 | 7 | 1859 |
| Langford | 59,664 | 0 | 0 | — |
| View Royal | 12,795 | 1 | 1 | 1853 |
| New Songhees 1A | 2,052 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Esquimalt | 19,512 | 42 | 2 | 1855 |
| Metchosin | 5,207 | 1 | 1 | — |
| Victoria | 103,888 | 80 | 23 | 1843 |
In brief
Colwood in brief
The registers count 27 historic places in Colwood, 7 with the highest designation, Fisgard Lighthouse first. No town its size has more historic places: it leads the 16 nearest in population. Around Fort Rodd Hill, 4 of the places of the highest designation lie within 400 m.
forts and military buildings make up 67% of the list. Dates cluster in the decades after Confederation: 17 of 27. Its oldest homes, those from before 1961, are 9.8% of the total, against 18% in the typical town.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Protection. National historic designation honours a place but binds only federal owners; a private building’s protection depends on its province or municipality.
- People and events. National historic persons carry no place in the open file. They appear on a town’s page when born there (same name, same birth and death years) or when a historic place inside it carries their name and its record names them with their dates; national historic events don’t appear.
- The federal register. The federal list is complete and open: Parks Canada’s directory for the designations, the Canadian Register of Historic Places for what each one is and why it matters.
- Provincial and municipal lists. The local and provincial lists outside Québec aren’t published openly, so this page counts what Wikidata records and pages only the places an encyclopedia describes.
- The tiers. Three tiers: the top for National Historic Sites, classified federal buildings and Québec’s classements, a second for the other federal designations, a third for provincial and municipal listings.
- The grade. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
- Map points. Pins for federal places come from Wikidata rather than Parks Canada, which gives no points.
Questions about Colwood’s history
Which places in Colwood have the highest designation?
These: Fisgard Lighthouse, Fort Rodd Hill, Hatley Park / Former Royal Roads Military College, Gun Emplacement and Magazine, Lower Battery, Gun Emplacement and Magazine, Upper Battery and Gun Emplacement, Magazine and Director's Tower, Belmont Battery, and 1 more.
What is the oldest building in Colwood?
Fisgard Lighthouse (National Historic Site): the first construction date on its record is 1859.
How old are the homes in Colwood?
The 2021 Census dates 9.8% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical town).
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).