Fort Clarence
Encyclopedia
Fort Clarence is a now defunct fortification that was located in Rochester, Kent
, England
.
Road to the River Medway
. The work was composed of a long brick revetted dry ditch running between a fortified guardroom on the Rochester-Maidstone Road to a similar tower alongside the Medway. The principal work (still surviving) is a massive red brick keep
, in the style of a medieval castle
, which served as gun tower and observation post. In the sides of the tower were embrasure
s to sweep the ditch with fire. The dry ditch running across St Margaret's Street was crossed by drawbridge
through a substantial casemated guardhouse in the form of an arch (which was demolished in the 1930s). From the tower ran a series of tunnels to the outlying guardhouses. Behind the dry ditch running from the tower down to Maidstone Road was a range of domestic building and barracks
.
After 1815, the fort served a variety of purposes, including military prison and lunatic asylum. After nearby Fort Pitt
became a military hospital, the patients were moved from Clarence to a new asylum, although the prison remained, with accounts of floggings being given in local newspapers. The fort was used by the garrison artillery
throughout the First World War as a recruiting centre. After the war, a large Territorial and Volunteer Reserve centre was built alongside the site and the main barrack site run down. During the Second World War, the Home Guard
used Fort Clarence as headquarters and, with the invasion scare, the fort was pressed into service again.
During the war, a massive underground aircraft factory was built under Fort Clarence for use by Short Brothers
who had their main factory on the Medway below the fort.
After the war, the fort became derelict, then in the mid 1960s the GPO
(now British Telecom) moved in, demolishing all the barracks, filling in a substantial part of the moat and demolishing the Maidstone Road guardhouse.
The most substantial remains now are the brick gun tower and section of ditch from St Margaret's Street into the public gardens opposite. Below the gardens — donated to the city of Rochester by former mayor Charles Willis in memory of a son killed in the First World War — is a sally port
with sealed-up door. This connected with tunnel that led to the gun tower and probably to the Medway tower, which is long demolished. Intruders into the tunnel system would have been greeted by fire from loophole
s built into the entrance tunnels walls. The present status of the underground factory is unknown as the main entrance from the promenade has been built on and the factory that it served was demolished after Shorts left in 1949. The CAV company took over the factory until the late 1980s.
The tower was transferred by English Heritage to private developers in the late 1990s and has now been converted to apartments. From the outside, the tower has been restored to pristine condition although there is an obvious contemporary structure added on the roof. On both sides the lowest pair of embrasure
s appear to be below ground level which indicates that originally the ditch was much deeper and more formidable than it now appears. On the east site, the brow of the hill has also been flattened to allow houses to be built and therefore the strategic dominance of the location harder to visualise. The tunnel complex is sealed off but maintained by English Heritage. As late as 2000, the developers reportedly found war-time aircraft components in the parts of the tunnels they visited. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument
.
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
History
The fort was built between 1808 and 1812 to prevent invaders gaining access from MaidstoneMaidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
Road to the River Medway
River Medway
The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
. The work was composed of a long brick revetted dry ditch running between a fortified guardroom on the Rochester-Maidstone Road to a similar tower alongside the Medway. The principal work (still surviving) is a massive red brick keep
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
, in the style of a medieval castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
, which served as gun tower and observation post. In the sides of the tower were embrasure
Embrasure
In military architecture, an embrasure is the opening in a crenellation or battlement between the two raised solid portions or merlons, sometimes called a crenel or crenelle...
s to sweep the ditch with fire. The dry ditch running across St Margaret's Street was crossed by drawbridge
Drawbridge
A drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle surrounded by a moat. The term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges.-Castle drawbridges:...
through a substantial casemated guardhouse in the form of an arch (which was demolished in the 1930s). From the tower ran a series of tunnels to the outlying guardhouses. Behind the dry ditch running from the tower down to Maidstone Road was a range of domestic building and barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
.
Fort Pitt, Kent
Fort Pitt was a fort built between 1805 and 1819 on the high ground of the boundary between Chatham and Rochester, Kent. It did not last long, becoming a hospital for invalid soldiers in 1828, with an asylum added in 1849...
became a military hospital, the patients were moved from Clarence to a new asylum, although the prison remained, with accounts of floggings being given in local newspapers. The fort was used by the garrison artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
throughout the First World War as a recruiting centre. After the war, a large Territorial and Volunteer Reserve centre was built alongside the site and the main barrack site run down. During the Second World War, the Home Guard
British Home Guard
The Home Guard was a defence organisation of the British Army during the Second World War...
used Fort Clarence as headquarters and, with the invasion scare, the fort was pressed into service again.
During the war, a massive underground aircraft factory was built under Fort Clarence for use by Short Brothers
Short Brothers
Short Brothers plc is a British aerospace company, usually referred to simply as Shorts, that is now based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Founded in 1908, Shorts was the first company in the world to make production aircraft and was a manufacturer of flying boats during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s...
who had their main factory on the Medway below the fort.
After the war, the fort became derelict, then in the mid 1960s the GPO
GPO
-Organisations:*General Post Office **General Post Office UK*German Patent Office, *United States Government Printing Office, a federal government agency*Green Party of Ontario, a policial party in Ontario, Canada...
(now British Telecom) moved in, demolishing all the barracks, filling in a substantial part of the moat and demolishing the Maidstone Road guardhouse.
The most substantial remains now are the brick gun tower and section of ditch from St Margaret's Street into the public gardens opposite. Below the gardens — donated to the city of Rochester by former mayor Charles Willis in memory of a son killed in the First World War — is a sally port
Sally port
The primary modern meaning for sally port is a secure, controlled entryway, as at a fortification or a prison. The entrance is usually protected in some way, such as with a fixed wall blocking the door which must be circumvented before entering, but which prevents direct enemy fire from a distance...
with sealed-up door. This connected with tunnel that led to the gun tower and probably to the Medway tower, which is long demolished. Intruders into the tunnel system would have been greeted by fire from loophole
Loophole
A loophole is a weakness that allows a system to be circumvented.Loophole may also refer to:*Arrowslit, a slit in a castle wall*Loophole , a short science fiction story by Arthur C...
s built into the entrance tunnels walls. The present status of the underground factory is unknown as the main entrance from the promenade has been built on and the factory that it served was demolished after Shorts left in 1949. The CAV company took over the factory until the late 1980s.
The tower was transferred by English Heritage to private developers in the late 1990s and has now been converted to apartments. From the outside, the tower has been restored to pristine condition although there is an obvious contemporary structure added on the roof. On both sides the lowest pair of embrasure
Embrasure
In military architecture, an embrasure is the opening in a crenellation or battlement between the two raised solid portions or merlons, sometimes called a crenel or crenelle...
s appear to be below ground level which indicates that originally the ditch was much deeper and more formidable than it now appears. On the east site, the brow of the hill has also been flattened to allow houses to be built and therefore the strategic dominance of the location harder to visualise. The tunnel complex is sealed off but maintained by English Heritage. As late as 2000, the developers reportedly found war-time aircraft components in the parts of the tunnels they visited. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument
Scheduled Ancient Monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorized change. The various pieces of legislation used for legally protecting heritage assets from damage and destruction are grouped under the term...
.
Further reading
- Defender of the Medway, prison, asylum ... and luxury home, by Stephen Rayner, Memories page, Medway News.