Bit late but here are some pics from the SubBrit Weekend in Kent. These are of Fort Amherst.
Some history from http://www.fortamherst.com/history.html
A raid on Chatham Dockyard by a Dutch fleet in 1667 led to a review of the defences of the South Coast and the Royal Dockyard at Chatham.
Amongst the recommendations eventually implemented in the 1750s was the building of defensive fortifications around the area known as the Great Lines. These fortifications were designed to defend the Dockyard from a landward attack and to protect the route to London.
A system of three defended gateways with ditches (at Chatham, Brompton & Gillingham) meant that the Dockyard and the other military barracks of the time could be isolated from the surrounding towns and countryside. Unlike many other forts of the period, Fort Amherst was not modified during Victorian times and is therefore probably the best surviving example of Georgian military architecture.
The protection offered by the tunnel system led to their use during WW II as the local Civil Defence HQ and by the anti-invasion planning unit. There is a reconstruction of the Civil Defence control room as it was in 1940. It was finally vacated by the Civil Defence in 1956.
The site was purchased from the Ministry of Defence by the Fort Amherst & Lines Trust in 1980 and opened to the public a couple of years later.
Some history from http://www.fortamherst.com/history.html
A raid on Chatham Dockyard by a Dutch fleet in 1667 led to a review of the defences of the South Coast and the Royal Dockyard at Chatham.
Amongst the recommendations eventually implemented in the 1750s was the building of defensive fortifications around the area known as the Great Lines. These fortifications were designed to defend the Dockyard from a landward attack and to protect the route to London.
A system of three defended gateways with ditches (at Chatham, Brompton & Gillingham) meant that the Dockyard and the other military barracks of the time could be isolated from the surrounding towns and countryside. Unlike many other forts of the period, Fort Amherst was not modified during Victorian times and is therefore probably the best surviving example of Georgian military architecture.
The protection offered by the tunnel system led to their use during WW II as the local Civil Defence HQ and by the anti-invasion planning unit. There is a reconstruction of the Civil Defence control room as it was in 1940. It was finally vacated by the Civil Defence in 1956.
The site was purchased from the Ministry of Defence by the Fort Amherst & Lines Trust in 1980 and opened to the public a couple of years later.
