The first Shornemead Fort had a barracks, magazine and even walnut trees, which were planted nearby to supplement the food supply and provide wood for the stocks of soldier's muskets. Originally the river was guarded by a number of forts built around Gravesend and Tilbury in the 16th and 17th centuries but these were no match for new technology.Īt this point the first artillery battery was established at Shornemead in 1795-96, during the Napoleonic Wars, along with two others at Lower Hope Point on the Kent side and Coalhouse Point on the Essex side. The fort and its counterparts at Coalhouse Point and Cliffe were designed by Captain Siborne of the Royal Engineers. Shornemead Fort on the banks of the Thames in Higham. Its third and final iteration was built between 18 for £211,063 (£25 million in today's money) and despite the long-running use of the site it's location on marshland led to major problems with subsidence. It is situated on the south bank of the river where the Thames curves sharply north and west and gives the fort long views of the river in both directions. Picture: Google Mapsīuilt in the 1860s as an artillery fort it was designed to guard the entrance to the Thames from attacks from France. The former Fort Bridgewoods is now an industrial estate. The site is now a small industrial estate, which kept the fort's name and houses a Royal Mail depot, a fruit distribution business and several other firms. However, it is rumoured some of the forts underground portions may have survived. Picture: WikiĪ large fire ripped through the building in 1982 and in 1988, despite being listed as of historic interest, the fort was demolished and nothing of it can now been seen. With the development of the nuclear bomb, new protected headquarters were built at the fort in the 50s. With repairs undertaken the fort slipped into obscurity but would go on to be used for radar trials, anti-aircraft efforts and even a Home Office control centre for south east London for the event of a nuclear strike. In the early part of the 20th century Royal Engineers mined and blew up one corner of the fort during a field exercise. Until the outbreak of the First World War, the fort was only sporadically garrisoned. The line of a section of the track between Bridgewoods and Horsted can still be seen from the air, as it curves away in a south westerly direction from the junction of City Way and Marconi Way in Rochester. The route of the former railway line can still be seen from the air and has been highlighted here. The railway remained in use until about 1905. This later became a young offenders institute which gave birth to the blanket term 'Borstal', used across the country to describe youth incarceration.īridgewoods was one of four forts – Horsted, Luton and Borstal were the others – which were linked by a small railway, hauled by prisoners, to move building materials between the sites. Money problems saw certain parts finished with dirt.Ī large prison was built on the hill above it near Borstal to house the workforce. Work was done by prisoners but by the time Bridgewoods was completed France was an ally and the new enemy was Imperial Germany. It was envisaged that a line of forts would stretch from the River Medway to the Thames, but lack of cash meant only five of the original large forts and two small ones were built. Construction was hurriedly resumed in 1892 when a new invasion threat came from France.
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