TILBURY FORT

ALTERNATIVE NAME:

WEST TILBURY BLOCKHOUSE

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Tilbury Fort was built in 1670 by order of Charles II, replacing an earlier artillery blockhouse, known as West Tilbury Blockhouse. This was built in 1539 by Henry VIII as part of his chain of coastal defences and defended the approach to London and the dockyards at Woolwich and Deptford. The blockhouse was refortified after 1588 and maintained during the English Civil War. After the Restoration in 1660, Charles II began a complete reorganisation of the national defences which included building a new fort and coastal battery at Tilbury. Two powder magazines were added in 1716, officers' quarters in 1772 and other alterations were carried out in the late 19th century. A First World War heavy anti aircraft battery was established at the fort in 1916. During the Second World War the fort initially housed the operations room which controlled the anti-aircraft defences of the Thames and Medway (North) Gun Zone, until 1940 and a pillbox was also established there. The fort remains substantially unaltered to this day and is one of the best examples of its kind in England. Since 1948 it has been in the guardianship of the Ministry of Works and there is now a museum at the site.

West Tilbury Blockhouse was two-storeys high and D-shaped. The rounded side faced the river and was pierced with gun-ports to provide covering fire. After 1588, the building was encircled by a ditch and counterscarp bank.

The 1670 Tilbury Fort was designed by Charles II chief engineer, Sir Bernard de Gomme, and based on principles pioneered in the Low Countries. It is pentagonal in plan, with arrowhead-shaped bastions projecting from four of the angles. A brick-built curtain wall encloses and links the bastions and the pentagonal area within the ramparts is known as `The Parade' which contained the barracks and powder magazines. The outer defences surrounding the landward sides of the fort are elaborate and include a broad terrace, or berm, two moats and a number of defensive structures.

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(TQ 651753) Tilbury Fort (NR) (1). The fort was designed by Sir Bernard de Gomme (1620-1685), Charles II's Chief Engineer and Surveyor General of the Ordnance, and was comparable in scale and complexity with contemporary continental fortifications, although the first permanent fortifications were constructed in 1539. To prevent enemy ships advancing up the Thames, five blockhouses designed for artillery were built; they were sited at West and East Tilbury and Gravesend, Milton and Higham on the Kentish bank of the Thames. None of these now survive, but their plan and elevation are known from later drawings: they were D-shaped, with the rounded side facing the river and comprising two storeys. This blockhouse survived in altered form inside the later Tilbury fort until c.1867 and its foundations with some of the lower courses may still exist buried beneath later work. (2)

Work on the fort was started in 1539 and it was completed in 1540. Repairs were carried out in the reign of Elizabeth I in 1588 when the Spanish Armada threatened. The defences fell into disrepair from c.1623 although some use was made of the Fort in the Civil War. The fort was rebuilt from 1670 and probably completed by 1687. Two powder magazines were added in 1716 and other minor repairs were carried out in the 1860's. (3)

Additional reference. (4)

Plans by the DoE to alter visitor access to the site from the river front to the landward approach necessitated excavations to establish the original construction of the ravelin, earthworks and redan and to identify the routes and levels of the roadways. Excavations were undertaken in 1973 and 1980 and demonstrated that the archaeological evidence contradicts the documentary evidence in a number of crucial details. Close dating of the features by means of associated finds was in most cases impossible due to the lack of dateable material, and in the case of the redoubt, excavation provided little additional information other than its precise position and the details of the structure and its foundations. Excavation has, however, provided much new data concerning the outworks. (5)

Further information can be found in these sources. (6-15)

Wills Gazetteer gives NGR of pillbox as TQ 650 754. (16)

Listed.
This was the site of a First World War heavy anti aircraft battery which was armed with one 6-pounder Nordenfeldt gun in 1916, and one 3-inch 20-hundredweight gun in 1917. (17-18)

Tilbury Fort. NGR is given as TQ 552 755. The fort opened in the 1670s. By December 1902 it was equipped with three 12-pounder quick-firing guns and two 9-inch rifle muzzle-loading weapons. The fort was disarmed by the First World War. (19-20)

The fort survives in complete condition. The emplacements are well maintained and barrack blocks and ancillary buildings are well preserved. Temporary buildings visible in aerial photography during the Second World War have been removed. (21)

Tilbury Fort includes the buried remains of a Henrician blockhouse, the far larger and more complex fort and battery which succeeded the blockhouse in the late 17th century, the late 19th and early 20th century alterations to the fort and a World War II pillbox.

The blockhouse was the first permanent defensive structure and was constructed in 1539. The Tilbury blockhouse had two stories and was D-shaped in plan. After 1588, the building was encircled by a ditch and counterscarp bank with drawbridge and timber palisade.
The blockhouse was maintained through the period of the English
Civil War but played little part in the conflict. After the Restoration in 1660, Charles II began a complete reorganisation of the national defences. A new fort and battery at Tilbury, based on principles pioneered in the Low Countries, were designed by Charle's chief engineer Sir Bernard de Gomme. De Gomme's fort is pentagonal in plan, with arrowhead-shaped bastions projecting from four of the angles, allowing guns positioned behind the parapets to command wide areas and to be mutually supportive in close
quarter defence.
A brick built curtain wall encloses and links the bastions and it supports massive internal earthen banks designed to absorb the impact of bombardment and to provide a firing platform for the defenders. The pentagonal area within the ramparts is known as `The Parade'. Situated in this area were the Soldiers' Barracks, the 18th century terrace of the Officer's Barracks and two brick built powder magazines dating from 1716.
There are elaborate outworks surrounding the landward sides of the fort including a broad terrace, or berm, and a wide moat which follows the outline of the fort. A narrow strip of dry land separates
this channel from an outer moat and contains a complex of
defensive structures. (22)

Tilbury Fort protected the Thames estuary from the 16th century until the Second World War. The first fort was built by Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth famously rallied the troops nearby to face the threat of the Armada. The present day fort was built in 1672 by Charles II and is the best example of its type in England with substantially surviving remains of moats and bastioned earthworks. Two magazines were later added to store large quantities of gun powder; one of which has been converted into an exhibition space on the role of the fort in the defence of London. (23)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

1:10 000 1975

( 2) by A D Saunders 1960 Tilbury Fort, Essex

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

9 (1974) Page(s)131-136

( 4) Essex Archaeological and Historical Congress newsletter

88 (1984) Page(s)5-6

( 5) by Patricia M Wilkinson 1983 Excavations at Tilbury Fort, Essex

Post-medieval archaeology : the journal of the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeologyvol 1 (1967) - 17 (1983) Page(s)111-162

( 6) A D Saunders 1990 Tilbury Fort, Essex

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

Page(s)98-99

( 8) by Catherine Mortimer 1992 Analysis of glass from Tilbury Fort, Essex

Ancient Monuments Laboratory reportsG5/77; 16/78; 94/91; 13 (July-December 1992)-

( 9) by Patricia Wilkinson 1984 Tilbury Fort, Essex [visitor facilities]

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

(10) by Cathy Groves 1993 Tree-ring analysis of a wood assemblage from Tilbury Fort, Essex, 1988-89

Ancient Monuments Laboratory reportsG5/77; 16/78; 94/91; 13 (July-December 1992)-

(11) Ian Hanson and Ken MacGowan 1996 Tilbury Fort : further historical and documentary evidence

(12) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

Thurrock, amendment dated 08-JUL-1998 977

(13) English Heritage 1998 The English Heritage visitors' handbook 1998-99

Page(s)120

(14) James Douet for English Heritage 1998 British barracks 1600-1914 : their architecture and role in society

Page(s)9-13

(15) English Heritage 1998 Barracks : thematic list review. Summary report and recommendations

(16) Gazetteer of Defence Sites from the Henry Wills Collection

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

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

(18) C S Dobinson 1996 Twentieth century fortifications in England, volume 1. Anti-aircraft artillery : England's air defence gunsites, 1914-46

Page(s)294

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

6.1 Page(s)143-152

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

6.2 Page(s)242-244

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

Page(s)84

(22) Scheduled Monument Notification

17-APR-1997

(23) 2009 English Heritage Visitor Handbook 2009/10

Page(s)152

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