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Palmerston Forts, Chatham
The Palmerston Forts around Chatham, Kent include: *Fort Amherst, technically a Napoleonic era fort but later extended. *Fort Borstal, in the village that gave its name to the youth offender's institution The Borstal. *Fort Bridgewood *Cliffe Fort *Fort Darland * Fort Darnet * Fort Pitt, a Napoleonic era fort, but used as the Army Medical School from 1860 to 1863.A E W Miles, ''The Accidental Birth of Military Medicine'', page 118. Civic Books, London, 2009 *Garrison Point Fort *Grain Battery *Grain Fort *Grain Tower * Grange Redoubt *Fort Hoo * Fort Horsted *Fort Luton *New Tavern Fort * Shornemead Fort *Slough Fort *Twydall Redoubts Twydall is a suburb of Gillingham in Kent in south-east England. In 1998 responsibility for local government was transferred from Kent County Council to the newly created Unitary Authority of Medway, The origin of the name Twydall is thought to ..., that includes Grange and Woodlands. * Woodlands Redoubt References External linksVictorian Fort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palmerston Forts
The Palmerston Forts are a group of forts and associated structures around the coasts of the United Kingdom and Ireland. The forts were built during the Victorian period on the recommendations of the 1860 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, prompted by concerns about the strength of the French Navy, and strenuous debate in Parliament about whether the cost could be justified. The name comes from their association with Lord Palmerston, who was Prime Minister at the time and promoted the idea. The works were also known as Palmerston's Follies, partly because the first ones which were around Portsmouth, had their main armament facing inland to protect Portsmouth from a land-based attack, and thus (as it appeared to some) facing the wrong way to defend from a French attack. The name also derived from the use of the term "folly" to indicate " a costly ornamental building with no practical value". They were criticized because at the time of their completion, the th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grain Battery
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legumes. After being harvested, dry grains are more durable than other staple foods, such as starchy fruits ( plantains, breadfruit, etc.) and tubers (sweet potatoes, cassava, and more). This durability has made grains well suited to industrial agriculture, since they can be mechanically harvested, transported by rail or ship, stored for long periods in silos, and milled for flour or pressed for oil. Thus, the grain market is a major global commodity market that includes crops such as maize, rice, soybeans, wheat and other grains. Grains and cereal Grains and cereal are synonymous with caryopses, the fruits of the grass family. In agronomy and commerce, seeds or fruits from other plant families are called grains if they resemble caryops ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twydall Redoubts
Twydall is a suburb of Gillingham in Kent in south-east England. In 1998 responsibility for local government was transferred from Kent County Council to the newly created Unitary Authority of Medway, The origin of the name Twydall is thought to mean "Two Parts" or "Double Portion" from the Old English ''twidǣl'', but by 1240 it was written ''Twydele''.Placenames of Kent Judith Glover 1976, 1982, 1992 Meresborough Books . Two Palmerston forts were built in the area, Grange Redoubt and Woodlands Redoubt: the design used came to be known as the Twydall Profile. Surrounding area Modern Twydall is situated between the A2 and the railway line, but previously it stretched down to the Medway estuary to Sharp's Green and Eastcourt Meadows which are now part of the Riverside Country Park and crossed by the Saxon Shore Way. Many of the road names in Twydall are names after villages within Kent. Districts in the surrounding area include Gillingham, Hempstead, and the Lower Rainham and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slough Fort
Slough Fort is a small artillery fort that was built at Allhallows-on-Sea in the north of the Hoo Peninsula in Kent. Constructed in 1867, the D-shaped fort was intended to guard a vulnerable stretch of the River Thames against possible enemy landings during a period of tension with France. Its seven casemates initially accommodated rifled breech loading guns, which were replaced by the turn of the century by more powerful breech-loaders on disappearing carriages, mounted in concrete wing batteries on either side of the fort. It was likely one of the smallest of the forts constructed as a result of the 1860s invasion scare. All of the guns were removed by 1912, though the fort continued in use during the First World War as a command post. It was decommissioned in 1920 and sold off in 1929. Since the 1960s, it has been used as a stables adjoining a holiday camp. The camp's owners funded a partial restoration in 2012–13 that uncovered previously buried features of the fort. Str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shornemead Fort
Shornemead Fort is a now-disused artillery fort that was built in the 1860s to guard the entrance to the Thames from seaborne attack. Constructed during a period of tension with France, it stands on the south bank of the river at a point where the Thames curves sharply north and west, giving the fort long views up and downriver in both directions. It was the third fort constructed on the site since the 18th century, but its location on marshy ground led to major problems with subsidence. The fort was equipped for a time with a variety of large-calibre artillery guns which were intended to support two other nearby Thamesside forts. However, the extent of the subsidence meant that it became unsafe for the guns to be fired and the fort was disarmed by the early 20th century. Shornemead Fort was in use from its completion in 1870 to its abandonment in the 1950s. Much of it was demolished by the Army Demolition School of the Royal Engineers in the 1960s. The barracks and administrative ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Tavern Fort
New Tavern Fort is an historic artillery fort in Gravesend, Kent. Dating mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries, it is an unusually well-preserved example of an 18th-century fortification and remained in use for defensive purposes until the Second World War. It was built during the American War of Independence to guard the Thames against French and Spanish raiders operating in support of the newly formed United States of America. It was redesigned and rebuilt in the mid-19th century to defend against a new generation of iron-clad French warships. By the start of the 20th century, the Thames defences had been moved further downriver to the estuary and the fort was disarmed. Its grounds were opened to the public as pleasure gardens, but the fort was taken back into military use temporarily during the Second World War. Today the fort and its magazines and other underground structures have been restored and are open to the public. It is unique in the UK for its display of guns and e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Luton
Fort Luton was built between 1876 and 1892 south of Chatham, Medway, South East England. It is one of the five late Victorian land front forts built to defend the overland approaches to Chatham. It is the smallest of the Chatham forts and was built near to the village of Luton. Construction and purpose The fort was ordered under the auspices of the 1859/60 Royal Commission on the Defences of the United Kingdom, but it was deleted by Parliament in an attempt to save money and divert funds to the construction of the sea forts, and the Land Front Forts of Milford Haven, Plymouth, Cork and Portsmouth/ Isle of Wight Fortresses. The 1869 'Report on the Construction Condition and Costs of Fortification' criticised the lack of landward protection for Chatham, yet it was not until 1872 that the Treasury relented and the land was purchased. Even so, it was not until 1876 that the order was given by the War Office, after approval by Parliament for construction to commence. The original desi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Horsted
Fort Horsted is a scheduled monument (Monument Number 416040) that lies in the Horsted Valley to the South of Chatham, Kent, England. It is a late 19th-century Land Fort, and one of six constructed around Chatham and Gillingham, Kent to protect HM Dockyard Chatham from attack. Originally proposed in the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom Report, published in 1860, it and the other land defences were omitted as part of general cost cutting with only the coastal defences on the River Medway being retained and completed under the original 1860 proposals. It was not until the mid-1870s that a revised programme was accepted, which included the construction of a convict prison at Borstal, Rochester, to provide low cost labour for the construction of a line of four forts, Fort Borstal, Fort Bridgewood, Fort Horsted and Fort Luton (a further three forts were constructed with the use of convict labour). Its construction started in 1879 and was complete by 1889 after mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Hoo
Hoo Fort is a nineteenth-century military installation on the River Medway in Kent, England, that formed part of the defences of Chatham Naval Dockyard. Hoo Fort, like Fort Darnet downstream, was built on the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, 1859 Royal Commission. It is located on Hoo Island covering Pinup Reach, the inner navigable channel of the River Medway. Hoo Island sits to the south of the Hoo Peninsula and is within the parish of Hoo St Werburgh, Hoo, Kent. The fort can be viewed from along the Saxon Shore Way, accessible from Vicarage Lane in Hoo. History Originally designed for two tiers of guns mounted in a circle, with a boom strung between Hoo Fort and Fort Darnet, there were many problems with subsidence, and after extensive cost overruns the forts were completed in 1871 with a single tier of eleven RML 9 inch 12 ton gun, 9-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns, and no boom. Each gun was mounted in an individual casemate with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grange Redoubt
Grange Redoubt, also known as one of the two Twydall Redoubts, was constructed in 1885. It was not included in the original list of defensive structures proposed by the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom in 1860, but was conceived later and implemented as an experimental redoubt as opposed to a more substantial fort. Grange and Woodlands Redoubts defended Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century, ... against landward attack from the east. References Redoubts Forts in Medway {{Kent-struct-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grain Tower
Grain Tower is a mid-19th-century gun tower situated offshore just east of Grain, Kent, standing in the mouth of the River Medway. It was built along the same lines as the Martello towers that were constructed along the British and Irish coastlines in the early 19th century and is the last-built example of a gun tower of this type. It owed its existence to the need to protect the important dockyards at Sheerness and Chatham from a perceived French naval threat during a period of tension in the 1850s. Rapid improvements to artillery technology in the mid-19th century meant that the tower was effectively obsolete as soon as it had been completed. A proposal to turn it into a casemated fort was dropped for being too expensive. By the end of the 19th century the tower had gained a new significance as a defence against raids by fast torpedo boats. It was used in both the First and Second World Wars, when its fabric was substantially altered to support new quick-firing guns. It was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grain Fort
Grain Fort is a former artillery fort located just east of the village of Grain, Kent. It was constructed in the 1860s to defend the confluence of the Rivers Medway and Thames during a period of tension with France. The fort's location enabled its guns to support the nearby Grain Tower and Garrison Point Fort at Sheerness on the other side of the Medway. It was repeatedly altered and its guns upgraded at various points in its history, before being decommissioned in 1956 when the UK abolished its coastal defence programme. It was subsequently demolished. The remnants of the fort are still visible and have been incorporated into a coastal park. Strategic context The fort was constructed in response to a naval arms race between Britain and France. Britain's coastal defences had not been substantially upgraded since the Napoleonic Wars, but a new generation of accurate and powerful guns, mounted on fast-moving, manoeuvrable iron-clad warships, had obsoleted the existing 18th and ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
