Forts On The Isle Of Wight
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Forts On The Isle Of Wight
Many forts and fortifications have been built to protect the Isle of Wight (South England) from foreign invasion. Throughout history the island has been a site of key military importance. Controlling both entrances to the Solent and the home of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth. This is a list of most of the fortifications on the island. Palmerston Forts The Palmerston Forts are forts built during the Victorian era. The name comes from their association with Lord Palmerston, who was the Prime Minister of the time and promoted the idea. The structures were built as a response to a perceived threat of a French invasion. The defences on the Isle of Wight were built to protect the approaches to the Solent, Southampton and Portsmouth. There are three groups, those at the west end of the island, those at the east end, and four in the Solent. The information is taken from documents for each of the sites, courtesy of the Victorian Forts website. Bembridge Fort Built on Bembridge Down it ...
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Isle Of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of Wight has resorts that have been popular holiday destinations since Victorian times. It is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields, downland and chines. The island is historically part of Hampshire, and is designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The island has been home to the poets Algernon Charles Swinburne and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Queen Victoria built her summer residence and final home, Osborne House at East Cowes, on the Isle. It has a maritime and industrial tradition of boat-building, sail-making, the manufacture of flying boats, hovercraft, and Britain's space rockets. The island hosts annual music festivals, including the Isle of Wight Festival, which in 1970 was the largest rock music ...
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Freshwater Bay
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include non- salty mineral-rich waters such as chalybeate springs. Fresh water may encompass frozen and meltwater in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, snowfields and icebergs, natural precipitations such as rainfall, snowfall, hail/ sleet and graupel, and surface runoffs that form inland bodies of water such as wetlands, ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, as well as groundwater contained in aquifers, subterranean rivers and lakes. Fresh water is the water resource that is of the most and immediate use to humans. Water is critical to the survival of all living organisms. Many organisms can thrive on salt water, but the great majority of higher plants and most insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds need fresh water to survive. Fresh water is ...
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Forts On The Isle Of Wight
Many forts and fortifications have been built to protect the Isle of Wight (South England) from foreign invasion. Throughout history the island has been a site of key military importance. Controlling both entrances to the Solent and the home of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth. This is a list of most of the fortifications on the island. Palmerston Forts The Palmerston Forts are forts built during the Victorian era. The name comes from their association with Lord Palmerston, who was the Prime Minister of the time and promoted the idea. The structures were built as a response to a perceived threat of a French invasion. The defences on the Isle of Wight were built to protect the approaches to the Solent, Southampton and Portsmouth. There are three groups, those at the west end of the island, those at the east end, and four in the Solent. The information is taken from documents for each of the sites, courtesy of the Victorian Forts website. Bembridge Fort Built on Bembridge Down it ...
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Keep
A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the castle fall to an adversary. The first keeps were made of timber and formed a key part of the motte-and-bailey castles that emerged in Normandy and Anjou during the 10th century; the design spread to England, south Italy and Sicily. As a result of the Norman invasion of 1066, use spread into Wales during the second half of the 11th century and into Ireland in the 1170s. The Anglo-Normans and French rulers began to build stone keeps during the 10th and 11th centuries; these included Norman keeps, with a square or rectangular design, and circular shell keeps. Stone keeps carried considerable political as well as military importance and could take up ...
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Yarmouth Castle
Yarmouth Castle is an Blockhouse, artillery fort built by Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII in 1547 to protect Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, Yarmouth Harbour on the Isle of Wight from the threat of French attack. Just under across, the square castle was initially equipped with 15 List of medieval and early modern gunpowder artillery, artillery guns and a garrison of 20 men. It featured an Italianate "arrow-head" bastion on its landward side; this was very different in style from the earlier circular bastions used in the Device Forts built by Henry and was the first of its kind to be constructed in England. During the 16th and 17th centuries the castle continued to be maintained and modified; the seaward half of the castle was turned into a solid gun platform and additional accommodation was built for the fort's Gunner (artillery), gunners. A Bastion, bulwark was built on the east side of the castle and an additional gun battery was placed on the town's quay, just to the west. For m ...
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Device Forts
The Device Forts, also known as Henrician castles and blockhouses, were a series of artillery fortifications built to defend the coast of England and Wales by Henry VIII. Traditionally, the Crown had left coastal defences in the hands of local lords and communities but the threat of French and Spanish invasion led the King to issue an order, called a "device", for a major programme of work between 1539 and 1547. The fortifications ranged from large stone castles positioned to protect the Downs anchorage in Kent, to small blockhouses overlooking the entrance to Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire, and earthwork bulwarks along the Essex coast. Some forts operated independently, others were designed to be mutually reinforcing. The Device programme was hugely expensive, costing a total of £376,000 (estimated as between £2 and £82 billion in today's money); much of this was raised from the proceeds of the Dissolution of the Monasteries a few years before. These utilitarian fortificat ...
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Sandown Bay
Sandown Bay is a broad open bay which stretches for much of the length of the Isle of Wight's southeastern coast. It extends from Culver Down, near Yaverland in the northeast of the Island, to just south of Shanklin, near the village of Luccombe in the southwest. At Luccombe, the bay is separated from The Undercliff by a large headland from which Upper Ventnor sits atop. The towns of Shanklin, Lake and Sandown are on the bay's coast, while Luccombe and Upper Ventnor feature panoramic views across both Sandown Bay to the East and the Undercliff to the southwest. Due to the bay being relatively sheltered from offshore winds it is often used as temporary anchorage point for boats, including large cargo ships, before continuing east towards Continental Europe, or north towards The Solent. History In the past, the bay had significant military importance as the wide beach offered a good landing-point for an armed invasion of the Island. To protect against a French or Spanish inv ...
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Sandown Barrack Battery
Sandown Barrack Battery (map reference ) is a battery located in Sandown Bay close to Sandown on the Isle of Wight in England. It is one of the many Palmerston Forts built on the island to protect it in response to a perceived French invasion. Context The 1859 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom recommended improvements to coastal defences in response to a perceived greater threat of invasion due to the strengthening of the French Navy at that time. The fortifications, a total of 70 forts and batteries, were constructed around the English coast as a result of the commission's findings, representing the largest programme of coastal defence works since the time of Henry VIII. They form a distinctive group in terms of their design and armament. Their construction was very costly, causing the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gladstone, to threaten resignation. They were known by critics as 'Palmerston's follies'. Construction Construction took place from 1861 to 1863, ...
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Yaverland
Yaverland is a village on the Isle of Wight, just north of Sandown on Sandown Bay. It has about 200 houses. About of a mile away from the village is the Yaverland Manor and Church. Holotype fossils have been discovered here of ''Yaverlandia'' and a pterosaur, ''Caulkicephalus''. The White Air extreme sports festival was held annually at Yaverland pay and display car park between 1997 and 2008, but moved to Brighton for 2009. The older part of the village is spread along the road to Bembridge by the Norman Church. The newer part is along the seafront, consisting entirely of a bungalow estate. The name appears to come from a local rendition of "over land" - being the land over the once-tidal causeway. An alternative derivation is from "Yar Island". In the fields below Yaverland the archaeological television programme ''Time Team'' discovered a Roman smithy. In 1545 a battle took place in Yaverland between French forces and local levies. The French were crossing Culver Do ...
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Redcliff Battery
Redcliff Battery (map reference ) is a battery located to the west of the Culver Cliffs and east of Yaverland on the Isle of Wight, England. It is one of the many Palmerston Forts built on the island to protect it in response to a perceived French invasion. Construction of the battery began in April 1861 and was complete by September 1863 at a cost of £4,776. Most of it has fallen into the sea. Only small amount left May 2020 History The Battery was constructed close to the cliff edge south of Yaverland Battery and west of Culver Battery and was designed to prevent a landing in the Sandown Bay Sandown Bay is a broad open bay which stretches for much of the length of the Isle of Wight's southeastern coast. It extends from Culver Down, near Yaverland in the northeast of the Island, to just south of Shanklin, near the village of Lucc ... area. It suffered with problems arising from subsidence shortly after it was completed and was in danger of collapsing over the cliff. Ar ...
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Puckpool Battery 3
Puckpool is a small coastal settlement on the outskirts of Ryde on the Isle of Wight. The area is best known for Puckpool Park, a park with an 18-hole putting green, 12 hole mini golf and two tennis courts. Puckpool Battery is located within the boundaries of the park; this is an old Palmerston Fort built in 1865. Puckpool Point features a natural sheltered bay offering a large expanse of sand and a gently sloping beach which becomes very popular with tourists and local residents during the summer season. A wide pedestrian and cycle promenade leading to Puckpool Point lines the entire bay. Until December 2009 Southern Vectis operated standard bus service 16 which served the area between Ryde and Bembridge Bembridge is a village and civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to the implausible claim by some residents that Bembridge ... via Seaview and St Helen ...
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Freshwater Redoubt
Freshwater Redoubt, also known as Fort Redoubt (map reference ) is an old Palmerston fort built in Freshwater Bay on the western end of the Isle of Wight. Construction work for the fort began in 1855 and was completed in 1856. It was finally sold in 1928 and has now been converted into a private residence. Army use Freshwater Redoubt is a Palmerston fort, completed in 1856 to defend Freshwater Bay, which was a possible landing beach for enemy troops. The deep, dry ditch protects the landward approaches. The Caponier building in the ditch served as barrack accommodation for 24 men. With its iron window-shutters and rifle slots the Caponier also provided a means of ditch defence. The original bridge had a section, which could be withdrawn, near the entrance gate, for defence purposes. The main building, visible through the gate, was originally a single storey, flat-roofed barrack comprising 3 Officers’ Rooms, an Officers’ Kitchen, Staff Sergeant's Quarters, and 2 rooms for 5 ...
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