More information : SX 45555155. A fort at Picklecombe is shown on a map of 1586, where it is described as "The new Bulworke, three pairs of ordnance now placed" (1) and the area was later occupied by an earthenwork of the early 19th century (4).
Construction of the present fort, placed at the base of the cliff because of the difficult terrain, began in 1860 and the fort is shown on a map of that date (2). By 1871 it was fully armed, and was used in 1872 in an experiment to test the full fire-power of this type of fort.
The fort was kept up to date with new observation cells electric telegraph and more modern armament until the guns were withdrawn in the 1920s. The unarmed fort was retained for military use until 1956. (1-5)
Built as a casemated granite battery mounting 42 68-pounders and 110 pounders in 2 tiers and 16 guns on the platform, all protected by iron shields with a large detached magazine to the rear. Up-gunned in 1871 and 1880. Disarmed in 1920 and now converted to luxury flats. (6)
There is no evidence that the 1586 boulwark was constructed. The fort was built below a battery built in 1845-48 to mount three 56-pounder guns and six 32-pounder guns. Only the battery barracks and remnants of the surrounding ditch survive. The guns appear to have fired through an embrasured wall. Fort Picklecombe is one of only two multi-tiered casemated coastal batteries in England, the other being at Garrison Point, Sheerness. (7)
Fort Picklecombe located at SX 454 517. Fort Picklecombe was constructed in the 1860s by recommendation of the Royal Commission. An earlier Picklecombe Battery dated to the 1840s lies immediately adjacent to the fort. The multi-tiered casemated fort was completed in 1872 and armed with 32 guns. By 1902 the armament had been reduced to six 12-pounder quick-firing (QF) guns, which were installed in 1899 to cover a minefield. The fort exchanged its 12-pounder guns with two 6-inch breech-loading (BL) guns in 1908 and gained two 4-inch QF guns in 1910. It kept this armament during the First World War. By the Second World War 12-pounder QF guns had been reinstalled at the fort in place of the 4-inch guns. In 1942 the 12-pounder guns were replaced with 6-pounder anti-motor torpedo boat guns. The 6-inch guns continued in use for close defence manned by 162 Battery of 566 Coast Regiment.
Fort Picklecombe was one of five coastal batteries located at Maker Heights that were built between 1872 and 1893. The other batteries were Grenville, Hawkins, Raleigh and Maker. A companion fort to Picklecombe was built at Bovisand (see HOB UID 437584). (8-9)
The fort is in good condition but has been converted to housing/accommodation. A coast artillery searchlight remains immediately to the west. (10) |