Stamford Fort is a 19th-century

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, built as a result of the Royal Commission on National Defence of 1859. Part of an extensive scheme known as

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 ...

, after the prime minister who championed the scheme, it was built to defend the landward approaches to the east of

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, as an element of the plan for the defence of the Royal Naval Dockyard at Devonport. It is 165 feet above sea level, between Jennycliffe Bay and Hooe Lake. Designed by Captain (later Maj General)

Edmund Frederick Du Cane Sir Edmund Frederick Du Cane (23 March 1830 – 7 June 1903) was an English major-general of the Royal Engineers and prison administrator. Early life Born at Colchester, Essex on 23 March 1830, he was youngest child in a family of four sons and ...

, it was built by George Roach and Company, who also built

Staddon Fort Staddon Fort is a 19th-century fort, built as a result of the Royal Commission on National Defence of 1859. Part of an extensive scheme known as Palmerston Forts, after the prime minister who championed the scheme, it was built to defend the land ...

. It was built as a five sided polygonal fort, surrounded by a dry ditch. Three sides face landward, one seaward, whilst the rear faces the

Cattewater The city of Plymouth, Devon, England is bounded by Dartmoor to the north, the Hamoaze to the west, the open expanse of water called Plymouth Sound to the south and the river Plym to the east. The Cattewater is that stretch of water where the mout ...

. The ditch was defended with three caponiers and a counter-scarp gallery. The fort was connected by a military road to the nearby

. To house the fort's garrison a barrack block for 200 men was built within the rear section of the fort, arranged in 13 casemates, on two floors. These have now been converted into flats. It was designed to be armed with 20 guns and 6 mortars. By 1893 it mounted five 64 Pounder Rifled Muzzle Loading Guns, one 7-inch Rifled Breech Loading (RBL) gun and two 10-inch Rifled Muzzle Loading (RML) guns. By the early 1900s the fort had become obsolete as a defensive position and was disarmed in 1904. It was sold off by the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

in 1963. It is now used as a caravan park, fitness centre and private flats. It was

Scheduled A schedule or a timetable, as a basic time-management tool, consists of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place, or of a sequence of events in the chronological order in which such things are i ...

in 1963.

References

Bibliography

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External links

{{Commons category, Fort Stamford, Plymouth
Fort Stamford website
Forts of Plymouth, Devon Palmerston Forts Military history of Devon