More information : (TQ 890767) Grain Fort (NAT) (1)
Grain Fort was hexagon-shaped with a D-shaped keep, completed in 1867. The whole fort was surrounded by a dry ditch which had both counterscarp galleries and carponiers (a small outwork jutting out from the main work to flank the ditch). It remained in use until 1956. The keep was knocked down shortly afterwards and the front section of the ditch filled in. (2)
Additional bibliography. (3-5)
TQ 890 766
Grain Fort was built between 1861 and 1868 following the recommendations of the 1860 Royal Commission into England's Coastal Defences. A central D-shaped brick keep was separated from a heptagonal earthen bank on the seaward side by a dry ditch with five radiating caponiers. A second dry ditch surrounded the whole work, with four further caponiers providing flanking fire along its seaward length.
The keep formed the barrack block and operational centre of the Fort and was designed to be self-defensible and to operate in conjunction with Slough Fort at Alhallows 5km to the west.
The main gun emplacements were situated on the earthen bank, where the remains of the emplacements testify to alterations resulting from the necessary changes in armament as the various weapons became obsolete. The Fort was rearmed several times during its history, and it remained in use up until and during the Second World War.
Grain Fort was decommissioned in 1956 and the keep was pulled down in the early 1960s, at which time the gun emplacements were filled in to make them safe. Despite this, several of the concrete aprons of the emplacements remain visible.
Grain Fort was surveyed by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England between March and April 1998, following a request from Kent County Council and as part of a European project looking at similar sites in Kent, Nord-Pas de Calais and West Flanders. See archive report and plans. (6)
TQ 8919 7655. Grain Fort constructed in response to fears of a French invasion during the mid 19th century. Located on a tidal mudflat which projects into the Medway channel. A 3 storey roughly oval artillery tower brick built with walls faced in granite ashlar. Its design is similar to the Martello towers built along the south and east coasts in the early 19th century. These defenses were reused in the years leading up to World War I and during World War II, the tower being re-armed in 1940.
Isle of Grain Fort located at TQ 8907 7665. It was opened in 1867 as part of the River Medway's coastal defence system. By December 1902 it was equipped with two 11-inch, one 10-inch and two 9-inch rifle muzzle-loading weapons. The battery was active during the First World War and armed with two 9.2-inch breech-loading Mk. X guns. During the Second World War it mounted close defence guns. (11-12)
Aerial photography from 1975 shows that the emplacements had been infilled but the concrete aprons were still visible. The fort outline and low-level features were in reasonable condition, although there were some alterations to the rear of the fort. (13)
The earthen and structural remains of Grain Fort were seen centred at TQ8903 7665 and were mapped from 1942 and 1946 RAF vertical aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. These show the site with the central keep and the entire fort surrounded by barbed wire obstructions forming part of the wartime anti-invasion defences of the Isle of Grain. This barbed wire could be seen extending around and between the 19th century forts at Grain. (14-15) |