THE HISTORY
Fort Horsted was built between 1879 and 1889 as part of the Chatham forts scheme to defend the inland side of the Royal Dockyard alongside Fort Luton, Borstal and Bridgewood, as well as several other more minor defences. These forts were built by prisoners of Borstal Prison as cheap labour, which the forts' more crude concrete design reflects by comparison to most Palmerston forts which are recognisable for their decorative brickwork. The fort was obsolete by 1910 and had lighter defences added to its roof in the world wars. It was sold off in 1961 and used by private companies, including one who dumped thousands of tyres in the ditch which had to be cleared. In 1997 it was bought by Avondale Environmental Services Ltd who still own the fort today and gave us the kind permission visit.
A dodgy low-res plan of the fort showing its many sections
THE EXPLORE
So this was organised by a local group who got in touch with the company who own the fort. They occasionally let visitors in but I hadn't seen it photographed in high quality in years so it felt like quite a rare opportunity. When we arrived they gave us a short presentation on the forts history, before essentially letting us free reign both the ruined sections of the fort and their business yards which was excellent. It pretty much became an explore once we were allowed in, so I'll still class it as such!
First we start with the entrance to the fort and the central section
Restored magazine off of the central tunnel
The central tunnel
The far end of the central tunnel coming out into the inner yard
40mm Bofors LAA emplacement on the roof of the fort, amongst numerous added WW2 defences
One of several decorative field guns acquired in recent times
Inside the ditch
Inside the inner yards:
Toilet block in the centre of the fort bearing many original features:
Inside the central casemates:
Counterscarp gallery with impressive double staircase:
Magazine tunnels, funnily enough their crude concrete design was remeniscnet of a WW2 air raid shelter, not like most Palmerston forts:
Fort Horsted was built between 1879 and 1889 as part of the Chatham forts scheme to defend the inland side of the Royal Dockyard alongside Fort Luton, Borstal and Bridgewood, as well as several other more minor defences. These forts were built by prisoners of Borstal Prison as cheap labour, which the forts' more crude concrete design reflects by comparison to most Palmerston forts which are recognisable for their decorative brickwork. The fort was obsolete by 1910 and had lighter defences added to its roof in the world wars. It was sold off in 1961 and used by private companies, including one who dumped thousands of tyres in the ditch which had to be cleared. In 1997 it was bought by Avondale Environmental Services Ltd who still own the fort today and gave us the kind permission visit.
A dodgy low-res plan of the fort showing its many sections
THE EXPLORE
So this was organised by a local group who got in touch with the company who own the fort. They occasionally let visitors in but I hadn't seen it photographed in high quality in years so it felt like quite a rare opportunity. When we arrived they gave us a short presentation on the forts history, before essentially letting us free reign both the ruined sections of the fort and their business yards which was excellent. It pretty much became an explore once we were allowed in, so I'll still class it as such!
First we start with the entrance to the fort and the central section
Restored magazine off of the central tunnel
The central tunnel
The far end of the central tunnel coming out into the inner yard
40mm Bofors LAA emplacement on the roof of the fort, amongst numerous added WW2 defences
One of several decorative field guns acquired in recent times
Inside the ditch
Inside the inner yards:
Toilet block in the centre of the fort bearing many original features:
Inside the central casemates:
Counterscarp gallery with impressive double staircase:
Magazine tunnels, funnily enough their crude concrete design was remeniscnet of a WW2 air raid shelter, not like most Palmerston forts:
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