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Fort Brockhurst
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Carey
June 4, 2021
15 min drive from Hill Head. One of a number of forts built in the 1850s and 1860s to protect Portsmouth and its vital harbour against a French invasion. Largely unaltered, the parade ground, gun ramps, moated keep, washrooms and armoury can all be viewed.
Creydi
December 9, 2021
Gosport is located on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour which, by the seventeenth century, was increasingly being used as a base by the Royal Navy. Although the main docks were in Portsmouth, the naval presence also led to the expansion of Gosport with some of the dockyard facilities built in the town. In 1677 Gosport was enclosed by an earth rampart fronted with a dry moat. In the 1680s two artillery blockhouses - Fort Charles and Fort James (Burrow Island) - were constructed. These were replaced in 1748 by the Gosport Lines, a substantial bastioned rampart fronted by a ditch. These defences remained extant until the mid-nineteenth century. However, in 1852 Napoleon III became Emperor of France prompting fears of a resumption of the Napoleonic Wars. The situation deteriorated in 1858 when France launched the world's first seagoing ironclad warship ('La Gloire'; the Glory) – an armoured vessel outclassed anything in the Royal Navy and threatened Britain’s maritime superiority. Britain, in a state of panic, initiated a Royal Commission to make recommendations on coastal defence. However, before the Commission stood up, defensive plans devised by Colonel William Jervois, Assistant Inspection General of Fortifications were put in motion for the protection of Portsmouth Harbour. The plans included construction of the Gosport Advanced Lines, a series of polygonal land defence forts, located around two miles from the waterfront and intended to prevent an enemy force proceeding down the Gosport peninsula and bombarding the dockyard. Fort Brockhurst was one of five facilities in this line (the others were Fort Elson, Fort Rowner, Fort Grange and Fort Gomer). Work started on Fort Brockhurst on 31 March 1858 and continued through to completion on 20 December 1862. It was laid out in polygonal arrangement which reflected the latest military doctrine and replaced the bastioned design of earlier forts such as the Royal Citadel. Instead, each fort operated in conjunction with its neighbours and was able to provide supporting fire across the front of the adjacent outposts. Like its identical forts at Grange and Rowner, Fort Brockhurst was designed for an armament of 50 guns although only a portion was ever installed; a report dated 1893 listed eight 7-inch Rifled Breach Loading guns, nine 64-pounder Rifled Muzzle Loading guns and two 0.45-inch Machine Guns. The fort's earth topped rampart was built over casemated barracks that provided accommodation for a garrison of 308 men. Two ramps provided access to the terreplein. Surrounding the fort was a wet ditch which was covered by three caponiers. A triangular shaped salient, known as a redan, extended to the north and was intended to provide flanking fire against any attacking force. A circular Keep, also surrounded by a wet ditch, was located to the rear and redesigned to act as a redoubt should the fort be overrun. Even before Fort Brockhurst was completed, concerns were being expressed that it was built in the wrong place. Developments in artillery meant that the location of Fort Brockhurst and her sister outposts were simply too close to the dockyard and would be unable to prevent an overland attack getting into effective artillery range of the dockyard. Accordingly the findings of the Royal Commission proposed construction of the Gosport Outer Lines, a series of three forts located two miles in advance of the existing forts. In the end only one of these new outposts - Fort Fareham - was actually constructed as the Government balked at the idea of decommissioning brand new facilities built at vast taxpayer expense. Accordingly Fort Brockhurst, along with her sister forts of the Gosport Advanced Line, remained in commission. The invasion fears came to nothing and thereafter the fort simply served as a base for a variety of military units and as a depot. During World War I it was used as a recruitment and de-mobilisation centre. During World War II it provided transit accommodation and suffered some minor bomb damage during an air-raid. The military disposed of the site in 1957 and it is now in the care of English Heritage. Although modern life has encroached on the fort, its fabric remains largely unaltered and the parade ground, gun ramps and moated keep can all be viewed. Constructional details of the casemates are able to be seen due to unrepaired Second World War bomb damage at the North-East corner. It is currently used as a store for English Heritage's reserve collections. The site is occasionally open to the public. The polygonal shape of the fort was a revolutionary change from the prevailing orthodoxy of forts designed with angle bastions for defence. The new forts could be more easily adapted to the terrain and allowed a greatly increased number of heavy guns mounted on the ramparts to prioritise offence over defence. Each fort was located within gunshot of the next to allow overlapping fields of fire and mutual support. The fort was surrounded by a moat and the entrance on the south-east side was approached by a drawbridge much like a medieval castle. This led to a circular keep, also moated, served as a place for local defence, being equipped with twenty light guns. The nineteen heavy guns of the main armament were mounted on the ramparts reached by two ramps on the enclosed parade ground in the middle of the fort. A lower tier of eight guns, four in casements, on each flank provided cross fire support with Elson and Rowner. Beyond the moat on the north side was a triangular redan accessed by a covered way to allow riflemen to cover attempts to bridge the moat. Similarly there were caponiers at the angles of the ramparts to allow riflemen to cover the moat.
Gosport is located on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour which, by the seventeenth century, was increasingly being used as a base by the Royal Navy. Although the main docks were in Portsmouth, the naval presence also led to the expansion of Gosport with some of the dockyard facilities built in t…
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Gunners Way
Gosport, England