# Gosport Spithead Forts



## Liberty (Jan 26, 2007)

Anyone familiar with Gosport, Portsmouth? I'm a Gosport girl, daughter of RNr, not been back for many years. Wondered what ever happened to the forts?Do they still use the ones outside the harbour?
Mother was born Fort Brockhurst as her father was in R.G.A., and wrote down happy memories of a childhood playing up in ramparts of the fort.(Thumb) 
Liberty


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## Peter4447 (Jan 26, 2006)

I believe there was a TV report recently that said one of the Forts is being used to help rehabilitate young men who have slipped off the rails and have become involved in drugs. It is some sort of project where they spend time actually working on the Fort itself - can anyone confirm please?
Peter4447
They were known of course as Palmerston's follies.


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## Liberty (Jan 26, 2007)

Thanks Peter I wondered if they were just crumbling away into the sea!! Sounds good project for "at risk" youth.
My brother and I used to play on and in Fort Gilcicker when young, had to keep out of site of guys in the watch house. One day we found a tunnel underneath the fort that seemed to go out under the sea. We followed it for quite away but floor started crumbling away so never ventured any further.We often wondered if it went all the way to the Isle of Wight!!
Liberty


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## Phill (Jun 17, 2005)

THEY LOOK SOLID TO ME, A couple of shots taken from the Pride of Bilbao (SN Trip)

Phill


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## Liberty (Jan 26, 2007)

Thanks Phill,
They sure made them solid. Good to see the chalk hills again. But where's all the naval fleet?
Liberty


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## Phill (Jun 17, 2005)

Will this bring back a few memories, A rainy Day in Gosport, taken from the Spinnaker Tower


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## HarbourCam (Jul 29, 2007)

Hi Liberty,

I live in Gosport and regularly keep an eye on the forts. Fort Rowner and Grange are still inside the perimeter of HMS Sultan (the Royal Navy school of Marine and Air Engineering), one has a astro-turf pitch inside and the other a nursery, band room and caravan car park! Fort Brockhust is used for car-boot sales and other events. Fort Nelson, on top of Portsdown hill, is a Royal Armories museum (free to enter!) and is a great afternoon out. The other three on the hill are still there, one is being turned into flats and another is used by the council as a outdoor activity centre. 

As for the ones in the Solent, Spitbank (the closest to Portsmouth) is a restaurant and has a flat for rent. No Man's Land fort was refurbished many years ago with helipad, tennis courts, swimming pool, rooms etc and was being run as a exclusive hotel. However, it has just been announced the company that owned it has gone bust and the fort is back up for sale. 

Check out:

http://www.palmerstonforts.org.uk/


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## vectiscol (Oct 14, 2006)

Liberty said:


> Thanks Peter I wondered if they were just crumbling away into the sea!! Sounds good project for "at risk" youth.
> My brother and I used to play on and in Fort Gilcicker when young, had to keep out of site of guys in the watch house. One day we found a tunnel underneath the fort that seemed to go out under the sea. We followed it for quite away but floor started crumbling away so never ventured any further.We often wondered if it went all the way to the Isle of Wight!!
> Liberty


I was captain of the Isle of Wight Schools Cricket Team when we played away against Gosport Schools XI. We scored 25 and bowled Gosport out for 24. That tunnel was the way that we escaped home.


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## Volunteer (Oct 8, 2008)

*Solent Forts.*

Liberty. Here is a good site on the Solent Forts - including the Nab Tower.
http://www.bobleroi.co.uk/ScrapBook/Solent/Solent.html


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

*Palmerston Forts - Fort Grange*



HarbourCam said:


> Hi Liberty,
> 
> I live in Gosport and regularly keep an eye on the forts. Fort Rowner and Grange are still inside the perimeter of HMS Sultan (the Royal Navy school of Marine and Air Engineering),


I knew of the forts, have visited a couple and saw a very interesting TV programe about them and other anti-Napoleon constructions some years ago. That was the limit of my interest until recently. Then, while searching for information on my great-grandfather, the earliest record I managed to find was in the 1871 Census of England and Wales, where he was shown as being at Fort Grange, 19 years old and a member of the 88th Regiment of Foot, better known as the Connaught Rangers. Unfortunately his place of birth was just given as ''Ireland'' so I haven't been able to trace any further back. Searches in the Irish on-line records have not traced him as yet.

Depending on your point of view, the forts were either a dreadful waste of money, since Pompey was never attacked from the landward side, or they were highly successful fortifications, since Pompey was never overcome by attack from the landward side. Seems a bit like the present discussions about the new carriers for the Navy.


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## chadburn (Jun 2, 2008)

Forts are like Warships, if they do not see any action they are considered to be a waste of money, It's a question of measuring their deterent value and who of course is doing those calculations. "Failure to prepare is to prepare to fail" It was a great pity that there were no inward looking Forts at Singapore!


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Have your tried Kew yet, Ron.
My GGF's records were there and he was an Irishman who joined the 47th in 1861.

The countryside about here is littered with the same sort of thing from WWII. Not much of a deterrent to Panzers but a booist to the local morale.


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