Thames and Medway Defences
History | Thames | Medway:
Pre-Napoleonic | Napoleonic | Ring Forts |
Island Forts | PFS
map
The Thames and Medway, with their promise of easy access to London to an
invader, the royal dockyards of Woolwich, Deptford and Chatham, and the
huge volumes of commercial traffic using the rivers, have always featured
highly in defensive plans. The first true artillery fortifications were the
blockhouses built by Henry VIII in 1539/40 at Tilbury and East TIlbury on
the north bank of the Thames, and Gravesend, Milton, and Higham on the
south bank, where the river begins to narrow from the estuary, guarding the
Gravesend-Tilbury ferry. The blockhouses are thought to have been D-shaped,
2 storeys high with 25-30 guns. The blockhouses had fallen into disrepair
by the time of the Spanish Armada in 1588, when the fear of an invasion
from the Netherlands encouraged frantic repairs, with new earthworks at
Tilbury and booms across the river.
In 1667, during the Second Dutch War, Admiral de Ruyter raided the
Thames and Medway. It is fortunate that the Admiral believed the
blockhouses to be well-armed, for in reality they had fallen into disrepair
again, and desperate attempts were made to repair them. Instead the Dutch
concentrated on the Medway [details TBD]. In the aftermath the government
decided to build a much larger Tilbury Fort on the
Thames, and embarked on properly protecting Chatham dockyard.
Jock Hamilton-Baillie has written a very good guide on the Evolution of the Chatham Defences, so I'll concentrate on the
Thames.
The next invasion scare, from the French in 1778 caused New Tavern Fort
to be built at Gravesend in 1780, but a forward line of defence was still
needed, and in 1796-9 new batteries were built at Coalhouse in Essex and Hope Point and Shornemead in Kent.
The main threats during the Napoleonic wars were the great plagues of moles
and black rats of 1806!
In the 1840s more invasion worries about France led to revised batteries
at New Tavern and Tilbury Forts, and new forts at Coalhouse and Shornemead based on
the polygonal system, the first in this country.
WW II lead to the addition of many anti-aircraft guns at exisiting
sites, but also the development of special Maunsell
sea forts in the Thames Estuary.
Tilbury Fort
Built on the site of Henry VIII's blockhouse (and entirely demolishing it)
between 1670 and 1684 by a Dutch engineer, Sir Bernard de Gomme, it is an
excellent example of a pentagonal bastioned fort, very well preserved, now
in the care of English Heritage.
Batteries.
Large casemated fort near Tilbury, open to tbe public with extensive web
pages at Coalhouse Fort Online, The Tilbury Riverside Project are working to set up a 4 mile
Two Forts walk between Tilbury and Coalhouse Forts.
A battery orginally dating from the 1790's, it was redeveloped in the
1850's to a pentagonal plan, one of the first 'polygonal' works in the UK
with 13 32 pounders on 3 faces.
Built in the 1780s against the threat of invasion from France. Extensively
rebuilt by General Gordon about 1870. The large underground magazine
complex is open April to September and most public holidays. For
information, telephone 01474 337470. Have a look at these photos
A small Royal Commission fort on the Thames, now owned by Blue Circle
Cement and inaccessible. More on Dave
Brown's website.
Grain Fort was built in the 1860's on the eastern end of the Hoo peninsula
to control the entrance to the Medway. All surface structures were
demolished in the 1960's, so all that remains are the underground passages explored by Sub-Brit in 1999. Nearby
is the 1855 Grain
Tower Battery, an extensively remodelled East Coast type Martello
Tower.
The other side of the Medway from Grain Fort, a Royal Commission 36 gun
battery now part of Sheerness docks, with the ferry access cutting across
it. No access.
A small 7 gun Royal Commission fort on the south side of the river. Still
intact and used as stables for a riding school.
Guy Maunsell designed 4 Naval Sea Forts, double pontoon gun platforms with
2 6" guns and a Bofors, sunk in position in 1942 to deter and report back
German attempts at mine laying. He also designed Army Forts for
anti-aircraft work, each consisting of 7 inter-connected platforms. 3 were
place in the Mersey, 3 in the Thames, with 4 3.7" guns and one Bofors.
During the war the forts shot down 22 aircraft and about 30 flying bombs.
The forts were finally abandoned in 1956, re-occupied for pirate radio in
the mid-sixties, and now Roy Bates lives in one in the self-styled Principality of Sealand. 2
Naval and 2 Army Forts remain today, and Frank Turner of Glendale House,
Marling Cross, Gravesend, Kent, DA12 5UE organises regular trips out to see
them in summer, cost was £22 this year. More details from his
booklet, or these pages discussing their pirate radio days (you can even buy a
CD!).
Pre-Napoleonic
Before the 1750's, the only defences of Chatham were Upnor
Castle, which lost a brave fight against the Dutch raid,
Cockham Wood and Gillingham Forts, built
in 1669 by Sir Bernard de Gomme in response to the raid, and the Cumberland
lines, a set of bastions and parapets which enclosed the dockyard.
Gillingham Fort quickly fell into disrepair, and has now vanished. Cockham
Wood is largely overgrown, and the lower battery eroded, but some remains
can be seen. Upnor Castle is still preserved in the care of English
Heritage.
Started in 1756 at the Southern end of the Brompton lines protecting
Chatham Dockyard (see also here), with
the last works about 1820, the lower part is now opened to the public by
the Fort Amhurst and
Lines Trust. The upper part of the site is still closed off.
Built between 1805 and 1819 on the high ground of the boundary between
Chatham and Rochester, it didn't last long, becoming a hospital for
invalided soldiers in 1828, with an asylum added in 1849. Florence
Nightingale started the first Army Medical School there in 1860, but by the
1920's the hospital was closed, and the site converted into a school. Today
I couldn't see many extant remains when on a mooch round of a Sunday
afternoon.
Fort Clarence
Built between 1808 and 1812 to control the east bank of the Medway upstream
from Rochester. More details available from
David Mapley, though I couldn't find it while driving the area. Its been
converted into 4 £500k flats.
The 1859 Royal Commission
recommended the building of a ring of forts was build round Chatham. Some
parts of the scheme, like the Western defences from the Thames to the
Medway, were never built. The rest were built between the late 1870's and
1900, some of the latest works in Britain, and were effectively obsolete
before completion. 5 land forts (Borstal, Bridgewoods, Horsted, Luton,
Darland) and 2 island forts (Hoo, Darnet) and a redoubt were built, the
land forts on a polygonal plan, the island forts on a circular one.
Fort Bridgewoods
More details from David Mapley.
Fort Luton is now a small time model museum, with lots of exhibits for
children, but with some details on the fort's history, and reasonable
access to the buildings. On Magpie Hall Road, off the A230 2 miles north of
the junction 3 of the M2.
An afterthought from the Royal Commission, built between 1875 and 1885 by
convict labour to hold the high ground in the area. A polygonal design,
never armed, with a AA battery in WWII. After many years use as a pig farm
for the nearby Young Offenders Institution it was sold in 1991 to a company
hoping to make it a museum, but that proved unsucessful, so its likely to
be used for accomodation now. No access.
TBD
Demolished.
TBD.
Fort Darnet and Fort Hoo were built on the recommendations of the 1859 Royal Commission on 2 islands
covering the inner navigable channel of the Medway. Originally designed for
2 tiers of guns mounted in a circle, with a boom strung between them, there
were many problems with subsidence, and after extensive cost overruns the
forts were completed in 1871 with 1 tier, and 11 guns, a mixture of 9" and
7" RMLs, and no boom. The forts were never used in anger, and were disarmed
before W.W.I. In W.W.II the forts were used as observation posts, with
platforms and pillboxes built on top. Currently both forts are in fair
condition. Fort Darnet can be freely visited by boat, though the landing is
muddy. Fort Hoo is still owned by the MoD, and landing is not allowed.
