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COALHOUSE FORT

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Coalhouse Fort is a remarkably well preserved late 19th century fort built on the recommendation of the Royal Commission on the Defence of the UK in 1860. Built on the site of a D-shaped artillery castle built in 1539, it is one of the finest examples of an armoured casemate fort in England and represents the third fort to stand on the site. The first phase of the Fort, begun in 1799, was replaced in 1847-55 by a more complex structure which was in turn superceded by the present buildings between 1861-74. In 1903 Coalhouse Fort was refortified with 5-6 feet of concrete placed on top of the 1860 battery roof - structural strengthening to support the weight of new guns. By the start of the First World War the primary defence line for the estuary had moved down river. The invasion scare of 1940 brought a new lease of life and the Fort was re-occupied again responding to a perceived threat of German invasion by sea. There were high expectations for the Fort in the Second World War but eventually the Home Guard took over in 1943. After a brief period as a naval training centre the fortification was decommissioned and used for storage by the local Bata Shoe Company. In 1962 Thurrock Borough Council took over the responsibility of the building from the Ministry of Defence for development as a riverside amenity. Conservation of the Fort started in 1983, and it was consolidated into the Coalhouse Fort project in 1985. The Coalhouse Fort Project Management Committee are hoping that most of the barrack block can be restored, including replacing roofs and floors, to provide interpretation of rooms such as the Cell block, the canteen and living quarters as they would have been in 1860, the Great War or the Second World War.

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TQ 690778. Coalhouse Fort (NAT) (1)

The latest of a line of fortifications dating back to Henry VIII, who in 1539 ordered a blockhouse to be erected at E Tilbury. This was replaced by another blockhouse closer to the river which by 1735 had been inundated by the sea and was in ruins. In 1795 a battery with surrounding ditch was built on the present site only to be replaced by Coalhouse Fort built in 1869. (2-3)

One of three batteries constructed under the requirements of The Royal Commission of 1856 for the defence of the mouth of the Thames. Coalhouse fort was completed in 1874. It comprised, a single tier of armoured gun emplacements, an open battery and a barrack block at the rear of the batteries. Dry and wet ditches defended the landward side of the fort. Twenty RML guns of 9", 11" and 12.5" calibre were installed in the fort.

Coalhouse was rebuilt in 1903 to take modern 6" and 12 pounder (quick firing guns). These were mounted in concrete emplacements on top of the 1874 gun positions. Electric searchlight emplacements were added later. During the First world War the fort was used as an Examination Battery.

By 1940 all the weapons had been removed. With the threat of invasion the fort was quickly rearmed with 5.5" guns that had been removed from HMS Hood. The fort was redesignated an Emergency (Anti invasion) Battery. In 1946 the fort was handed over to the Admiralty for training Sea Cadets. The fort is now derelict and the area has been landscaped into a park. (4-5)

The work of restoring the late Victorian armoured casement fortifications have concentrated on repairs to the main battery roof. Stabilisation of all the main buildings on the roof is underway, after which work will move into the first floor casemented rooms. Excavation in the parade ground will be undertaken to locate the two previous battery phases of 1855 and 1799. The earliest blockhouse of 1539 lies near to the foreshore, but it is hoped that a trial trench will locate this. (6)

Excavation formed part of the Phase I restoration of the curtain wall dry ditch, the defensive system of the 1874 armoured casement construction. A possible 1st/2nd World War concrete hardstanding for light field guns was located at a high level. Much late 19th and early 20th Century pottery, glass and other finds have been recovered, including the fuses for rifled muzzle loading guns. An 1874 Hong Kong bronze coin might suggest at least one of the gunners had seen foreign service. (7-8)

Scheduled as a remarkable group of defensive sites. Additional features of the complex include a battery for Quick-Firer guns built in 1893 near the waterfront, a rifle range and a World War II low-level radar tower, one of only three in the country surviving in this condition. (9)

Additional article on the 1861 phase of the fort;s development. (10)

This record has been recast under the following references:
The Henrician blockhouse - 1378614 (TQ 67 NE 83)
The QF battery - 1375114 (TQ 67 NE 80)
The radar tower - 1375139 (TQ 67 NE 81)
The jetty - 1375151 (TQ 67 NE 82)

The foreshore at Coalhouse Point ahd the QF battery were surveyed by English Heritage in October-November 2000. For full details of survey report and archive plans contact the National Monuments Record. (11)

Listed as mounting 5.5-inch guns in 1941. (12-13)

See the 2007 English Heritage report on East Tilbury for a discussion of Coalhouse Fort and other defences at East Tilbury in the context of a wider Area Assessment. (14)

Coalhouse Fort located at TQ 6908 7676. The fort was built in the 1870s and equipped with three 12-pounder quick-firing guns and two 9-inch rifle muzzle-loading guns in casemates, plus four 6-inch breech loading Mk. VII guns. In the 1890s it was fitted with four 6-pounder quick-firing weapons. The fort was in use throughout the First World War but had been disarmed by the Second World War. In 1940 it was rearmed as an emergency battery and mounted two 5.5-inch naval guns. From 1943 it was manned by the Home Guard. (15-16)

Coalhouse Fort is a well-preserved fort with Second World War additions intact. The radar tower survives in complete condition near the fort. Site appears to be a musuem. (17)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

1:10000, 1975

( 2) Panorama : journal of the Thurrock Local History Society

7, 1962 Page(s)3-12

( 3) The Antiquaries journal : journal of the Society of Antiquaries of London

40, 1960 Page(s)152-175

( 4) by Ian V Hogg 1974 Coast defences of England and Wales, 1856-1956

Page(s)104

(5) by V T C Smith 1985 Coalhouse Fort and the artillery defences at East Tilbury: a history and guide

( 6) Essex Archaeological and Historical Congress Essex journal: a review of archaeology and local history

19, 1988 Page(s)264

(7) Essex Archaeological and Historical Congress Essex journal: a review of archaeology and local history

21, 1990 Page(s)131

(8) Essex Archaeological and Historical Congress Essex journal: a review of archaeology and local history

23, 1992 Page(s)105

(9) Scheduled Monument Notification

02/04/1990

(10) by Aubrey Saunders 1985 Coalhouse Fort, East Tilbury - 1861 folly? - 1985 museum

Essex journal: a review of archaeology and local historyvol 1, no 1 (1966) -

(11) English Heritage field survey reports

English Heritage: Coalhouse Point Survey

(12) World Wide Web page

http://www.coalhousefort.freeserve.co.uk/ [Accessed 12-AUG-2003]

(13) Migrated Defence of Britain Project database record originally compiled from various sources

The two databases developed by the Project can be searched on-line through the Archaeology Data Service at http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/specColl/dob/index.cfm

(14) JOANNA SMITH 2007 East Tilbury, Thurrock, Essex: Historic Area Appraisal; Research Deparment report Series 21/2007

21 Page(s)24-27

(15) C.S. Dobinson 2000 Twentieth century fortifications in England. Volume 6.1. Coast Artillery, 1900-1956

6.1 Page(s)143-152

(16) C.S. Dobinson 2000 Twentieth century fortifications in England. Volume 6.2. Coast Artillery, 1900-1956

6.2 Page(s)242

(17) Michael J. Anderton 2000 Twentieth century military recording project: World War Two Coastal Batteries

Page(s)85

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