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The Great Britain Guide

Forts · South West England

Woodland Fort

Woodland Fort is a fort in the United Kingdom.

Woodland Fort, forts in South West England

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
St Budeaux Ferry Road · 2.7 km

About

Woodland Fort is a historic fort or fortified site in the United Kingdom. Records date its origin to 1863. Coordinates: 50.4137°, -4.1542°.

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Protected designations

  • Site of Special Scientific Interest: Tamar-Tavy Estuary SSSI
  • Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: Tamar Valley

Designations sourced from Natural England open data under OGL v3.

From the Wikipedia article

Woodland (or Woodlands) Fort is a Royal Commission Fort built in the 1860s as part of Lord Palmerston's ring of land defences for Plymouth, England. Currently owned by Plymouth City Council, the site is in use but largely derelict.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

Woodland Fort is one of the Palmerston Forts that form Plymouth's north eastern defences, whose purpose was to defend the Royal Dockyard at Devonport from the possibility of a French attack, under the leadership of Napoleon III. Designed by Captain (later Maj General) Edmund Frederick Du Cane, it was built by George Baker and Company and finished by the Royal Engineers. It was released by the military in 1920, and eventually became Grade II listed, and is currently on Historic Englands' Buildings at Risk Register.

Architecture

Woodland Fort has a trapezoidal shape incorporating many advanced Victorian fort design ideas. The soldiers' barracks are north of the parade ground and the now-ruined cookhouse is to the north west. The magazines are to the north east. There is a caponier to the north west covering the west flank and a counterscarp gallery to the north east. This gallery was accessed via a tunnel heading beneath the ditch and provides flanking fire along the north and east lengths of the defensive ditch. The gatehouse is sited to the south of the fort and retains some of the original drawbridge mechanism.

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
50.4137, -4.1542
District
Plymouth
Parish
Plymouth, unparished area
Postcode
PL5 3SQ
Parliamentary constituency
Plymouth Moor View
Established
1863
Nearest railway station
St Budeaux Ferry Road2.7 km

Sources

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Frequently asked questions

Where is Woodland Fort?
Woodland Fort is in South-West England, United Kingdom (postcode PL5 3SQ), in the parish of Plymouth, unparished area.
When was Woodland Fort built?
Built or established in 1863.
Is Woodland Fort a protected site?
Yes — Woodland Fort is part of the Tamar-Tavy Estuary SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest and the Tamar Valley National Landscape (AONB).
How do I get to Woodland Fort?
The nearest railway station is St Budeaux Ferry Road, about 2.7 km away. Drivers can navigate to postcode PL5 3SQ.