"of England, Martello towers were built along the English coast to counter the invasion threat, and militias were raised. In the areas closest to France new fortifications were built and existing ones initiated against the 1779 invasion completed or improved. Dover Castle had underground tunnels added to garrison more troops, the Dover Western Heights were constructed (with a Grand Shaft to deploy its troops from its hilltop site to sea level rapidly should a landing occur), and the Royal Military Canal cut to impede Napoleon's progress into England should he land on Romney Marsh. Unfounded rumours of a massive flat"
"This fort, combined with Cromwell's Castle, the Martello tower and Fort Falkland would have protected both the town and the river crossing from all angles. Martello towers (or simply Martellos) are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards. They stand up to high (with two floors) and typically had a garrison of one officer and 15–25 men. Their round structure and thick walls of solid masonry made them resistant to cannon fire, while their height made them an ideal platform for a single heavy"
"Martello tower Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand up to high (with two floors) and typically had a garrison of one officer and 15–25 men. Their round structure and thick walls of solid masonry made them resistant to cannon fire, while their height made them an ideal platform for a single heavy artillery piece, mounted on the flat roof and able to traverse, and hence fire over, a complete"
"east it is one of the Palmerston Forts built to protect against perceived French invasion threats. Built in the east it is one of the Palmerston Forts built to protect against perceived French invasion threats. Warden Point Battery is a battery on the Isle of Wight begun in 1862, that was originally armed with 7-inch and 9-inch rifled muzzle loaders on barbette mountings. In use until 1936. Yarmouth Castle is a small off-square blockhouse built by Henry VIII in 1547, to guard Yarmouth, Isle of Wight harbour. It was built as part of Henry's second device programme to fortify the"
"the original Victorian fortifications were adapted by German forces in the Second World War, when Alderney became one of the most heavily fortified sections of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall. This impressive large Jäger bunker housed a 10.5 cm K331 (f) beach defence gun. This particular type had both accommodation and a magazine and was only constructed in the Channel Islands. The 10.5cm captured French gun would have covered the wide beach of Platte Saline which like many other beaches on the island was vulnerable to assault by landing craft and tanks. Plans to redevelop the fort exist, however, as of December"
"of ricochet during firing, a Range Safety Boat is present to prevent boats entering the danger area. Dymchurch Redoubt Dymchurch Grand Redoubt is a fortification at Palmarsh on the coast of Kent in England, built during the Napoleonic War as part of a large defensive scheme to protect the country from an expected French invasion. Dymchurch Redoubt is circular in form and built of brick with granite and sandstone dressings. It measures up to 68 metres in diameter and stands 12 metres above the floor of its 9-metre-wide dry moat. It lacks the caponiers or musketry galleries of the otherwise"
"more than forty forts started after the War of 1812 when British forces sailed the Chesapeake Bay to burn the Capital. Designed by Brigadier General of Engineers Simon Bernard, an expat Frenchman who had served as Napoleon's chief engineer, Fort Wool was constructed on a shoal of ballast stones dumped as sailing ships entered Hampton's harbor — and was originally intended to have three tiers of casemates and a parapet with 232 muzzle-loading cannons, although it never reached this size. Fort Wool was built to maintain a crossfire with Fort Monroe, located directly across the channel, thereby protecting the entrance"
"""La Gloire"", they represent part of a 20-year trend of French naval and coastal re-armament, to which the United Kingdom eventually responded by building its own steam battleship (""Warrior"") and its own coastal defence chain (the Palmerston Forts) during the 1860s. Around 150 crenellated guardhouses were built. This sub-type accommodated 60 men and 12 cannons. This sub-type could house 40 men and 8 cannons. This sub-type could house 20 men and 4 cannons. Square in plan, buildings of this size were slightly pyramidical in shape. This sub-type housed 20 men and had two murder holes sticking out from either side."
"into disuse before being rescued by the Landmark Trust in 1966; it now provides comfortable self-catering accommodation for up to thirteen people. Fort Clonque Fort Clonque is a 19th-century coastal fortress in Alderney, in the Bailiwick of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It was constructed at a time when French naval power was becoming an increasing concern to the British. It is built on a rocky outcrop of land joined to the island by a causeway that can be submerged at high tide. It was manned by fifty men and fortified with up to ten guns, mostly 68-pounders, however none"
"Fort Darnet Fort Darnet, like its twin, Hoo Fort, was built on the recommendations of the 1859 Royal Commission on an island covering Pinup Reach, the inner navigable channel of the River Medway, Kent. Building started on the island in 1870 and then finished in 1872. Originally designed for two tiers of guns mounted in a circle, with a boom strung between them, there were many problems with subsidence, and after extensive cost overruns the forts were completed in 1872 with one tier, and 11 guns : a mixture of 8 9-inch and 3 7-inch rifled muzzle-loaders. The boom was"
"Maunsell Forts The Maunsell Forts are armed towers built in the Thames and Mersey estuaries during the Second World War to help defend the United Kingdom. They were operated as army and navy forts, and named after their designer, Guy Maunsell. The forts were decommissioned in the late 1950s and later used for other activities including pirate radio broadcasting. One of the forts is managed by the unrecognised Principality of Sealand; boats visit the remaining forts occasionally, and a consortium called Project Redsands is planning to conserve the fort situated at Red Sands. In the summers of 2007 and 2008"
"the Channel coast where the French were thought to be most likely to land. The scheme had been devised by Captain William Henry Ford of the Royal Engineers and championed by Brigadier-General William Twiss who commanded the Royal Engineer Southern District. The original plan called for 83 Martello towers, each mounting a single heavy gun, at intervals along the coast and three 11-gun towers at Sea Houses (Eastbourne), Rye Harbour and Dymchurch. In the event, 74 Martello Towers were actually built and plans for the 11-gun tower at Rye were abandoned. The 11-gun towers, which came to be known as"
"Yarmouth Castle Yarmouth Castle is an artillery fort built by Henry VIII in 1547 to protect Yarmouth Harbour on the Isle of Wight from the threat of French attack. Just under across, the square castle was initially equipped with 15 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"
"on a south or west fork of French creek, near the water, and almost surrounded by it. Four houses composed the sides. The bastions were made of piles driven into the ground, standing more than high, and sharpened at the top. Port holes for cannon and loop-holes for small-arms were cut into the bastions. Each bastion mounted eight six-pound cannon and one four-pound cannon guarded the gate. Inside the bastions stood a guard-house, chapel, doctor's lodging and the commander's private stores. Outside the fort were several log barracks, some covered with bark, others with boards. In addition, there were stables,"
"landing along the coast and approaching Portsmouth from inland, and had their main weaponry facing away from Portsmouth. Palmerston Forts, Portsmouth The Palmerston Forts that encircle Portsmouth were built in response to the 1859 Royal Commission dealing with the perceived threat of a French invasion. The forts were intended to defend the Dockyard in Portsmouth. Construction was carried out by the Royal Engineers and civilian contractors (under Royal Engineer supervision). In addition to the newly constructed forts, extensive work was carried out on existing fortifications. The Portsmouth defences can be split into four distinct groups of forts, comprising four sea"
"The British returned the islands to France under the terms of Article 3 of the 1802 Treaty of Amiens; the last British forces left the islands in May 1802. Napoleon ordered the islands fortified and the work began in 1803. The primary defences consisted of a fort on Île du Large, 170 meters in diameter. The main structure is a circular fort with a diameter of 53 meters, with 48 firing ports for cannon on two levels of 24 casemates each. This work was completed by 1812. There are seven underground chambers and a cistern. The fort could accommodate 500"
"planting and raising Fortifications upon them""; the fortification, however, was not constructed until 1790. Fort George was built using local coral rock and limestone ironshore with its design being based largely on the English fortifications of the time. The oval base of the Fort measured approximately 57 feet by 38 feet. There were eight embrasures for cannons around the sides of the fort and a mahogany gate on the fort's landward side. The walls of Fort George ranged in thickness from two feet on its landward side to five feet on its seaward side, with the walls being about five"
"twelve locations along the North Downs built to protect London in case of attack by foreign invaders crossing the channel. Known as Betsom’s Hill Fort or Westerham Fort, it was part of the London Defence scheme, and was intended to act both as a mobilisation centre for volunteer troops, and as an ammunition store. The fort which consisted of ramparts, casemates and a magazine has been partially demolished and converted for use as workshops, with private houses appropriately named Fort Cottages now occupying the site. The highest part of the hill is unmarked, in an area inaccessible to the public,"
"built as the westernmost frontier fort in the Séré de Rivières system, in the coastal sand dunes within a few hundred metres of the English Channel. The chosen site was both served by and a place of protection for the coastal railway and canal. It occupies a sandy hill high, and is itself protected by as many as of sand cover. The rectangular fort is surrounded by a dry moat defended by caponiers that provide a protected firing position to sweep the length of the ditch with gunfire. The main fort is accessed by a drawbridge over the ditch. The"
"Royal Navy institutions on the island. Due to subsidence, the fort was constructed on a granite base, based on a diameter ring of stone laid down on the seabed. The main floor consists of gun rooms and ports for 14 heavy guns. Below the gun floor are the shell and cartridge stores and engine rooms. The fort also has its own harbour and ancillary barrack buildings. The fort cost £75,968 to build. In 1892, the fort was installed with seven 12.5-inch RML cannons, and these were replaced in 1907 by two 6-inch BL guns and two 12-pounder QF guns. During"
"gunpowder magazines in the country. Brean Down Fort was one of a number of ""Palmerston Forts"" built to defend the British, Irish and Channel Island coastlines. It was originally built in stages between 1862 and 1870; to protect the Bristol Channel. It had a large, underground, main gunpowder magazine, 15 foot (4.5 m) by 18 foot (5.5 m) by 20 foot (6.1 m) high, built to the recommendations of the 1863 Royal Commission. The magazine still exists. A further two, smaller, underground magazines, ""No. 2 magazine"" and ""No. 3 magazine"", were also built. No. 3 magazine exploded on 3 July"
"Littlehampton Redoubt Littlehampton Redoubt, usually known as Littlehampton Fort, was built in 1854 to protect the entrance to the River Arun at Littlehampton on the south coast of England, against possible attack by the French under the Emperor Napoleon III. There had been a previous battery on the east bank of the river, but the new fort was built on the west bank. It consisted of a platform from which cannon could sweep the harbour mouth, with a barracks behind and a surrounding defensive ditch and wall. The fort was an innovative military structure, incorporating the new feature of a"
"Palmerston Forts, Isle of Wight The Palmerston Forts are a group of forts and associated structures built during the Victorian period on the recommendations of the 1860 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom. The name comes from their association with Lord Palmerston, who was Prime Minister at the time and promoted the idea. The structures were built as a response to a perceived threat of a French invasion. The works were also known as Palmerston's Follies as, by the time they were completed the threat (if it had ever existed) had passed, largely due to the Franco-Prussian"
"""fortalice by the sea"" to defend the harbour. The fortalice, or small fort, took the form of an enclosure castle, with a curtain wall protected by mural towers and a gate tower. It was constructed on land in the manor of Stoke Fleming, belonging to the Carew family, lent by them due to the threat of French attack, and was built around a pre-existing chapel to Saint Petroc on the site. It held catapults to attack enemy ships, and may also have been armed with early cannon and equipped with a chain to block the entrance to the harbour. It"
"can be found in the narrative of André Pénicaut: This fort was sixty toises [117-m or 384-ft] square. At each of the four corners there was a battery of six pieces of cannon which, protruding outside in a half circle, covered the sector in front and to right and left. Inside, within the curtains, were four fronts of buildings fifteen feet back from the curtains behind them. These buildings were to be used as chapel, as quarters for the commandant and the officers, as warehouses, as guardhouse. So, in the midst of these buildings there was a place d'armes forty-five"
"castles were initially deployed along the south coast where the Channel ports, essential for English trade and military operations in Europe, were increasingly threatened by French raids. Carisbrooke, Corfe, Dover, Portchester, Saltwood and Southampton Castle received cannon during the late 14th century, small circular ""keyhole"" gunports being built in the walls to accommodate the new weapons. Carisbrooke Castle was subject to an unsuccessful French siege in 1377, the Crown reacting by equipping the castle with cannon and a mill for producing gunpowder in 1379. Some further English castles along the Welsh borders and Scotland were similarly equipped, with the Tower"
"government used one third of its budget to build the fort. Construction of the fort was ordered by Massachusetts Governor Sir William Phips and cost £20,000 to build. The English colonial militia leader Benjamin Church assisted in the construction. The fort was built with walls that were 10 to 22 feet in height and a stone bastion which was 29 feet in height. The fort was armed with 20 cannon and a garrison of 60 soldiers. The fort was attacked by a combined force of French and Native Americans in the Siege of Pemaquid (1696). The English were forced to"
"was at an important location as this is where the Bay of Gibraltar meets the rugged coast of the Strait of Gibraltar. This fort had a watchtower to enable signalling that was slightly higher on the 20 metre cliffs than the main battery. It was able to house twenty soldiers as well as an artillery officer, a Sargent and a corporal. In 1735 there were four guns and by 1796 there were five guns with two mortars. This was later extended to six 24 pounders. The Spanish fortifications around Gibraltar were destroyed in 1810 to deny their use by Napoleon's"
"muzzle-loading guns on ""high-angle"" mountings. These were intended to fire shells along a high curving trajectory to more easily penetrate the decks of ships at sea to the south. Although the guns and mountings are long gone and the site is filled in, the area is clearly recognisable in aerial photographs. Tregantle Fort Tregantle Fort in south east Cornwall is one of several forts surrounding Plymouth that were built as a result of a decision in Lord Palmerston's premiership to deter the French from attacking naval bases on the Channel coast. Tregantle Fort was completed in 1865 with barracks accommodation"
"Fort Montagu Fort Montagu is a small fort of four cannon on the eastern shore of New Providence Island (Nassau) Bahamas. Peter Henry Bruce oversaw the construction of the fort that began in 1741 to defend the British possession from Spanish invaders. After Governor John Tinker arrived in 1741, he saw that there was only one fort on the island (Fort Nassau). He knew that one fort wasn't enough defense and had military engineer Peter Henry Bruce construct another one at the eastern end of the island. Construction for the fort began in 1741 and finished in 1742. The fort"
"Palmerston Forts The Palmerston Forts are a group of forts and associated structures, around the coast of Britain. The forts were built during the Victorian period on the recommendations of the 1860 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, following 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, around Portsmouth, had their main"
"of two 18 pound guns in a stone fortification. In 1812 Fort George was begun after the British Governor, Colonel Robertson, decided that the harbour needed greater protection. Fort George was to be primarily a light cannon and musketry defence and was therefore built to cooperate with three further Martello towers; towers Bentick and Robertson to the rear of the fort and Wellington across the bay. Like the defences on Host Island, these Martello towers would carry large cannon able of deterring enemy ships from approaching the bay. The defense towers and Fort George were built under the supervision of"
"built to protect against perceived French invasion threats. Fort Albert was built in 1856 on an artificial island to defend the western approaches to Portsmouth. It was intended to house 29 guns in four tiers, it was one of the last gun-towers built in England. Fort Victoria was a battery with barracks built west of Yarmouth in the 1850s, it was later used as a submarine mining centre and military training area. The barrack blocks were demolished in 1969, but the casemates were not, and this is all that remains of the Fort. The fort can now be visited in"