Fort Victoria is a former military fort on the

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 Is ...

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(), built to guard the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...

. The earliest fort on the site was a coastal fort known as Sharpenode Bulwark built in 1545–1547 by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

, but these defences had fallen into disrepair by the 17th century. Fort Victoria was built in the 1850s. It was a brick-built triangular fort with two seaward batteries meeting at a right angle. It remained in use until 1962. Parts of the fort were subsequently demolished; areas of the fort that were preserved have become part of Fort Victoria Country Park.

Location

Fort Victoria is situated on Sconce Point west of Yarmouth. Its position overlooks the whole of the Needles Passage and approaches to Yarmouth, and is almost opposite

Hurst Castle Hurst Castle is an artillery fort established by Henry VIII on the Hurst Spit in Hampshire, England, between 1541 and 1544. It formed part of the king's Device Forts coastal protection programme against invasion from France and the Holy Rom ...

on the mainland. Around 1 kilometer to the southwest lies

Fort Albert Fort Albert (map reference ) is a tower fort nestling under the cliffs south-west of Fort Victoria on the Isle of Wight, England. It was also known as Cliff End Fort, named after the Northern extremity of Colwell Bay (Cliff's End). History Fo ...

Earlier forts

The earliest fort on the site was Sharpenode Bulwark (also Sharpnode or Sharpnore) which was constructed in 1545–1547 as part of

's coastal defences. It was about 700 metres east from an earlier fortification known as Worsley's Tower. Sharpenode Bulwark was a square earthwork with two angle bastions. It fell into disrepair and was repaired or even replaced in 1587 by

George Carey George Leonard Carey, Baron Carey of Clifton (born 13 November 1935) is a retired Anglican bishop who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, having previously been the Bishop of Bath and Wells. During his time as archbishop the C ...

, Captain of the Island. This became known as Carey's Sconce. The defences are said to have fallen into disrepair by 1623, and at the beginning of the 19th century only ruins remained.

Fort Victoria

Fort Victoria was built in the 1850s. It is a brick-built triangular fort with concrete gun-floors. It has two seaward batteries meeting at a right angle. It became a functioning part of the new batteries on the heights above. At the same time a pier was built to serve the fort. It effectively became a military barracks and storehouse until rearmed with more modern armament in the 1880s. During the First and

Second World Wars World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the fort saw service as a landing point and for storage. Between the wars it saw little use with the royal engineers leaving in 1920. In the 1930s a proposal was made to run a car ferry between Fort Victoria and

Keyhaven Keyhaven is a hamlet on the south coast of England in the county of Hampshire. It is a fishing village, but the trade has been in decline for a period of years and its main draw now is tourism, especially sailing. Overview Keyhaven lies in the ...

on the mainland. An act of parliament was obtained in 1936 but a lack of funds meant the proposal was abandoned in 1938. At the start of World War II the fort was used as a training battery for coastal gunners and it was equipped with

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...

tubes mounted on the pier. After the war it was used as a

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

training station. Its military use came to an end in 1962. What remains today is a fragment of the fort. The rear barracks blocks were demolished in 1969 to provide material for sea defences and

Isle of Wight Council The Isle of Wight Council is a unitary authority covering the Isle of Wight, an island in the south of England. It is currently made up of 39 seats. Since the 2021 election, there has been an 'Alliance' coalition administration of Independents, ...

purchased what remained of the fort soon afterwards. The fort is now a Grade II

Listed Building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Fort Victoria Country Park

Today the fort is part of Fort Victoria Country Park which occupies 20

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre i ...

s of woodland and shore on the northwest coast of the Isle of Wight. The fort houses a number of attractions including a Reptilarium, Visitor Centre and a

model railway Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

. The derelict pier can still be seen.

References

Publications

External links

Fort Victoria websiteIsle of Wight Council Countryside Service, including Fort Victoria pagesIsland PlanetariumArchaeology Discovery Centre & MuseumVictorian Forts data sheetFort Victoria Model Railway
{{Palmerston Forts on the Isle of Wight

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Country parks on the Isle of Wight Tourist attractions on the Isle of Wight

Grade II listed buildings on the Isle of Wight Grade II listed forts