Forts · London
Cliffe Fort
Cliffe Fort is a fort in the United Kingdom.
Wikimedia Commons contributors — see linked file page for photographer and licence licence
Plan your visit
- Typical visit
- 45 min–1.5 h
- Nearest railway station
- East Tilbury · 3.8 km
About
Cliffe Fort is a historic fort or fortified site in the United Kingdom. Records date its origin to 1861. Coordinates: 51.4636°, 0.4559°.
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Protected designations
- Site of Special Scientific Interest: South Thames Estuary and Marshes SSSI
- Site of Special Scientific Interest: Mucking Flats and Marshes SSSI
- Ramsar wetland: Thames Estuary & Marshes
Designations sourced from Natural England open data under OGL v3.
From the Wikipedia article
Cliffe Fort is a disused artillery fort built in the 1860s to guard the entrance to the River Thames from seaborne attack. Constructed during a period of tension with France, it stands on the south bank of the river at the entrance to Cliffe Creek in the Cliffe marshes on the Hoo Peninsula in North Kent, England. Its location on marshy ground caused problems from the start and necessitated changes to its design after the structure begin to crack and subside during construction. The fort was equipped with a variety of large-calibre artillery guns which were intended to support two other nearby Thamesside forts. A launcher for the Brennan torpedo—which has been described as the world's first practical guided missile—was installed there at the end of the 19th century but was only in active use for a few years. Cliffe Fort saw about 60 years of usage as an artillery fort, from its completion in 1870 to its disarmament in 1927. It was repurposed during World War II to serve as an anti-aircraft battery on the approaches to London. The fort's military career ended when it was sold off after the war to the owners of a neighbouring aggregates works. Today it lies derelict, overgrown and heavily flooded. It is not accessible to the public and is in a poor and slowly deteriorating condition which has led it to be listed as an "at risk" heritage asset.
Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.
Background
History
By the late 1850s, Britain and France were locked in an arms race. A new generation of increasingly accurate and powerful guns had been developed (of the Rifled Muzzle Loader (RML) and Rifled Breech Loader (RBL) types), mounted on fast-moving, manoeuvrable steam-powered ironclad warships such as the French La Gloire and the British . By this time Britain's coastal defences had not been substantially upgraded since the Napoleonic Wars. A number of forts built between the 16th and late 18th centuries stood in the area around Tilbury and Gravesend, west of Cliffe Fort, but like many other existing fortifications in Britain they were by now largely obsolete. The Royal Commission recommended…
Architecture
Cliffe Fort was constructed between 1861 and 1870 for an estimated cost of around £163,000. Its original plan called for 13 guns to be mounted on the fort's terreplein or roof, three more to be mounted en barbette and two for land defence. Granite-faced casemates with iron shields would house another 20 guns below. The front would form a quadrant protected by three flanking caponiers for musketry, with two bastioned fronts formed by the gorge building. In addition to the main magazine, the interior of the fort would house four shell filling rooms and four expense magazines. The entire fort would rest on a bed of concrete 7 ft thick. However, the problems of building on a marshy site next to…
Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Coordinates
- 51.4636, 0.4559
- District
- Medway
- Parish
- Cliffe and Cliffe Woods
- Postcode
- ME3 7SZ
- Parliamentary constituency
- Rochester and Strood
- Established
- 1861
- Nearest railway station
- East Tilbury — 3.8 km
Sources
- osm: w82098134 (ODbL)
- wikipedia: Cliffe Fort (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- commons: Cliffe Fort Aerial.jpg (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Frequently asked questions
- Where is Cliffe Fort?
- Cliffe Fort is in London, United Kingdom (postcode ME3 7SZ), in the parish of Cliffe and Cliffe Woods.
- When was Cliffe Fort built?
- Built or established in 1861.
- Is Cliffe Fort a protected site?
- Yes — Cliffe Fort is part of the South Thames Estuary and Marshes SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest and the Mucking Flats and Marshes SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest.
- How do I get to Cliffe Fort?
- The nearest railway station is East Tilbury, about 3.8 km away. Drivers can navigate to postcode ME3 7SZ.