A
brief history of the Fort
A
raid on Chatham Dockyard by a Dutch fleet in 1667 led to a
review of the defences of the South Coast and the Royal Dockyard
at Chatham (known today as the Historic Dockyard.)
Amongst the recommendations eventually implemented in the
1750s was the building of defensive fortifications around
the area known as the Great Lines. These fortifications were
designed to defend the Dockyard from a landward attack and
to protect the route to London (since an invader marching
from the Kent Coast could not afford to leave such a stronghold
to threaten its supply routes). The fort was built on the
ditch and rampart principle as were many others of the period.
The major difference however is the underground tunnel system
(built between 1776 and 1805) linking many areas of the fort
which would provide protection in the event of a siege. At
its peak the garrison had a complement of 125 guns (mainly
24 pounders)
A
system of three defended gateways with ditches (at Chatham,
Brompton & Gillingham) meant that the Dockyard and the
other military barracks of the time could be isolated from
the surrounding towns and countryside.
Today only the Chatham Gatehouse with its reconstruction of
the Napoleonic barracks survive. Unlike many other forts of
the period, Fort Amherst was not modified during Victorian
times and is therefore probably the best surviving example
of Georgian military architecture.
As
we know, the fortifications were never put to the test. However,
after the fort was declared defensively obsolete in 1820,
annual training exercises called the Great Siege Operations
were held on the Lines until the early 1900s. A visit to these
exercises is described in the Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens.
The protection offered by the tunnel system led to their use
during WW II as the local Civil Defence HQ and by the anti-invasion
planning unit. There is a reconstruction of the Civil Defence
control room as it was in 1940. It was finally vacated by
the Civil Defence in 1956.
The site was purchased from the Ministry of Defence by the
Fort Amherst & Lines Trust in 1980 and opened to the public
a couple of years later. Of the original 142 acres the Trust
owns about 20 acres with half currently being open to the
public.
Restored
areas include the tunnels, Gatehouse, Barrier Ditch, Haxo
Casemate and Grand Magazine as well as many of the original
gun batteries.
There
is also a Civil Defence museum with artifacts from WW II &
the Cold War period and a memorial Garden for 166 City of
Rochester anti-aircraft battery.
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