Forts And Foreshores: The Confluence

Van Soest, Attack On The River Medway

Much time and effort have I expended recently, exploring the triangle of Forts, the 'Palmerston Follies', that protect the kink in the Thames at Coalhouse Point. I have been buffeted by gusts at the lonely outpost of Cliffe, clambered over shattered stonework at Shornemead, and watched owls sweep across mudflats at Coalhouse. And yet, despite the time and effort that went into the construction of these Victorian military relics, none of them got to serve the purposes for which they were built. The French never sailed up the Thames, never attacked London, never exchanged fire with Palmerston's casemented guardians.

And yet, only a few miles along the shore, lies the confluence of the River Thames with Kent's mighty Medway... and here, two hundred years before the Palmerston Forts sought to ease our fears about Johnny Frenchie, took place the greatest humiliation in English naval history. However, it was not the French who were behind the 1667 raid on the Medway.

It was the Dutch.

The Medway Estuary

The raid took place in the context of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, one of four conflicts regarding mastery of the seas. A conference at Breda commenced in March 1667 but Charles II hesitated to sign a peace treaty, hoping for support from Louis XIV of France. However, the Dutch wearied of his prevarications and decided, in modern parlance, to light a fire under his backside.

On 6 June, a fog bank lifted in the Thames Estuary and revealed the approach of the Dutch fleet. They chased a fleet of merchantmen as far as Gravesend before turning their attention to the mouth of the Medway, for - only a couple of miles along the river at Chatham - the cream of the English Navy was lying up in a state of dormancy...

Slough Fort can be found at Allhallows-On-Sea...

...not at Slough, which is in Berkshire.

On the day I decided to follow the course of the Dutch Navy, I first visited the resort village of Allhallows-On-Sea, a short distance west of the confluence... my motive being that Allhallows has a small but tactically important Palmerston Fort, currently - and amusingly - being used as stables for an equestrian concern.

The small, D-shaped Slough Fort was constructed in 1867 and was designed to protect the only viable landing-place for an invasion fleet between the Coalhouse fortifications and the defensive structues at the Thames/Medway confluence. It was named after a neighbouring farmstead which has since disappeared.

Slough Fort

To reach the Fort, one has to stroll into Allhallows' unmissable caravan resort and swing a left at the site supermarket, passing under a rather obvious gateway. Stables have been built in the structure's forecourt, and most are occupied by horses and ponies, along with helpful signage pointing out which ones bite. The interior of the Fort is not open to the public, and many of its rooms are used as storage for riding equipment.

Forecourt at Slough, stable block on the right

A series of gun emplacements stretch out on both sides of the main building, large enough to house the type of artillery you might expect to find at, say, Navarone.

Emplacement at Slough for a very big gun. Above, a holidaymaker enjoys a barbecue.

The wing batteries were added to the Fort around 1890 and could accomodate two 9.2-inch and two 6-inch breech loaders, weapons capable of taking on a battleship at considerable distances. Sadly, none of these colossal weapons remain at the site today.

Slough Fort in 1870, before the wing batteries were added

The guns were never fired in anger. The Fort was used as a Battery Command Post during the First World War, monitoring shipping in the Thames. It was decommisioned in 1920 and sold off nine years later, although brought back into use for anti-aircraft purposes during the Second World War. Eventually, the local council acquired the site and the riding stables appeared during the '60's.

Layout of Slough

Slough Fort was listed as a Grade II* Scheduled Monument in 2009, and Bourne Leisure (owners of the adjacent caravan park) have funded a partial restoration, clearing tons of debris from the wing batteries and laying out a trail with information boards.

Eastern wing battery shows signs of recent clearance

Following this productive visit to a holiday resort, I head east to the village of Grain, which stands right on the confluence of the two mighty rivers. The approach to this village is via the long and winding A288 and it passes through an industrial landscape that would look at home in a Blade Runner movie.

The Forts of the Confluence, in spatial relationship to each other

The road ends at a free car park, and from there it is but a short, brisk stroll to the sea wall, where you can stand at the junction of the two estuaries and make two immediate observations, i.e. it is extremely windy here, and there are fortifications as far as the eye can see. Out in the distant mouth of the Thames can be spotted a series of Maunsell Forts, named after their designer and erected during WW2. They form two groups, the Redsands and the Shivering Sands.

Maunsell Forts in the Thames Estuary

In the mouth of the Medway stands the Grain Sea Fort, built in 1855 (thus predating Palmerston's efforts) to protect local dockyards. It was added to during the Second World War, and holds the amusing address of 'No.1, Thames'. It recently came up for sale at £500, 000, although it requires a million's worth of renovations and can only be accesses by boat or a low-tide causeway. One can only imagine what kind of nut would want to live there. A rich nut, presumably.

Grain Sea Fort

Beyond the Sea Fort, on the corner of the Isle of Sheppey, can be spotted the Sheerness Docks and, in the midst of all that modern maritime bustle, another military relic from the days of Palmerston: the Garrison Point Fort, currently inaccessible to Joe Public and being used as a radar tower.

Garrison Point Fort

Behind you at this point is a raised area of long grass and scrubland, and this is the site of the demolished Grain Fort, twin to Garrison Point, razed following its 1956 decommissioning. Its colossal defensive ditch is mostly overgrown, its worn gun emplacements now picnic spots. Plenty survives below ground, but is only accessible through a small hole located in a cleared area of the ditch. Lacking a torch and the inclination to squeeze into a subterranean gap barely larger than the entrance to a badger sett, I decided to leave it to proper Urban Explorers.

The site of Grain Fort...

...and its few upstanding remains.

A little to the south stands the Grain Dummy Battery, built in 1865 to supplement the Fort. It was decommissioned at the same time, but its remains are still impressive.

Grain Dummy Battery from the front, chimney of Grain Power Station on left

Grain Dummy Battery from the rear

It is easy to imagine, at this windswept spot, the might of the Dutch Navy bearing down from the Thames back in June 1667. The first defensive obstacle they encountered was an earlier, incomplete fort at Sheerness, the precursor to Garrison Point. Its heavily outnumbered garrison fled, and the guns of the Dutch ships hammered the fort into rubble. The raiders now moved into the Medway, navigating the bends and turns toward Gillingham Reach and, beyond, the unprepared English fleet laid up at Chatham.

The Battle Of Chatham, Willem Van Der Stoop

I do not have to navigate the meanderings of the Medway, as I have a car and can follow the river's southerly course from the A288. At a point just below the disused Kingsnorth Power Station, it is possible to gaze out over the river and notice two more Palmerston Follies, Fort Hoo and Fort Darnet, strandedon islets and acessible only by water craft.

Fort Darnet ©David Anstiss

Fort Hoo

I park by the Marina at Hoo St Werburgh. From here, at low tide, it is possible to walk along the foreshore to the next site on my list. However, as Blondie might have observed, the tide is high. And I have little intention of swimming, so my only option is to struggle through the rather dense Cookham Wood, which hugs the banks of the river between here and Upnor. Plentiful signage tells me that the woods are privately owned, which is another way of telling me to be discreet.

Struggling through the bramble and ivy of the unwelcoming undergrowth, I notice the evidence of past human activity: bumps, hollows, drainage culverts. I have come to find the scanty remains of a brick fort that long predates the Palmerston Follies, a fort built in 1669 in the wake of the Dutch attack. Its twin, Gillingham Fort, stood on the other side of the river, but nothing remains of it. I find myself sliding into a hollow and finding the remnants of a small brick building, the first sign that I have located the Cookham Wood Fort.

Landward remnants of Cookham Wood Fort

I struggle gamely through to the wooded waterfront but, alas, that tide is not going to let me get close without risking an unwelcome dip in the Medway, so for today I have to satisfy myself with a partial view.

Remnant of Cookham Wood Fort at high tide

Cookham Wood at low tide ©beno.org

The river at this point is meandering south from the stretch known as Gillingham Reach. Here, the English had set up a 'boom', a long and thick chain set across the Medway to forestall just such a raid. It failed miserably. The Dutch crashed through the boom and fell upon two ships they found in the Reach, capturing both and taking them as spoils of war. One was the HMS Unity. The other, to the everlasting humiliation of the English Navy, was their flagship, the Royal Charles.

I retrace my steps to the Marina and recover the car. Only one more site to visit for the day, and its the only one owned by English Heritage of which, happily, I am a member.

Upnor, a beautiful cobblestoned maritime village

I park outside Upnor village, a place I have visited many times, and stroll down the quaint, historic village street toward the Medway waterfront. There, I find familiarity in a site of which I am very fond: Upnor Castle.

Approaching Upnor Castle

It was constructed during the reign of the first Elizabeth, between 1559 and 1667, to a design by Sir Richard Lee. The only action it saw came in June 1667, when the raid on the Medway culminated with a thunderous confrontation on the river right below the castle walls.

Upnor Castle from the Medway © Loco Steve

The Dutch fleet swept into Upnor Reach and finally met stiff resistance. The great guns of the castle roared out, batteries from the Chatham shore kept up constant artillery fire, but despite heavy human losses, the Dutch managed to attack and destroy three of the most majestic ships in the English Navy: Loyal London, Royal James and Royal Oak, burned by fireships here in the river at Upnor.

The gatehouse at Upnor Castle

The formidable General Monck, Duke of Albemarle and veteran of the Civil War, arrived to take charge, and ordered  a line of ships to be deliberately sunk across the Reach. This had the effect of blocking further passage along the river. Chatham was saved and, still under heavy fire, the Dutch warships swung around and headed back the way they had come, a feat of seamanship that even the English admired. They took with them their captured prizes, the Unity and the flagship Royal Charles. She was auctioned for scrap in 1673, but her sternpiece survives in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Sternpiece of the HMS Royal Charles

The Dutch had finally been repelled, but the raid could not be portrayed as anything but a disaster for the English. Samuel Pepys, Secretary of the Navy, wrote: "All our hearts now do ake; for the newes is true, that the Dutch have broke the chaine and burned our ships, and particularly The Royal Charles, other particulars I know not, but most sad to be sure. And, the truth is, I do fear so much that the whole kingdom is undone..."

Upnor Castle, overlooking the Medway

The kingdom survived. The Royal Oak, Royal James and Loyal London were refloated and salvaged. Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon and Lord Chancellor, was made the scapegoat and exiled from Court. In 1670, a ship rebuilding programme saw the Navy being restored to its former strength.

Upnor Castle continued in service, being used to store ordnance after its defensive role was rendered obsolete by the new fortifications built around the estuaries in the wake of the Dutch raid. It was decommissioned at the end of the Second World War and opened as a museum. Today, although still owned by the Crown, it is run by English Heritage.

I leave the Castle and stroll down to the foreshore. The tide is at last at an ebb, and I gaze at the emerging mudflats and remember an earlier occasion, years ago, when my children and I prowled along those same mudflats, picking fresh samphire. My exploration of the Forts and Foreshores is at an end. Doubtless, I will return to some of them in the future (perhaps Cookham Wood when the tide is out), but those initial journeys of discovery have been completed.

I turn, mount a flight of steps back to Upnor and stroll up its cobbled street. The village has two pubs, the Tudor Rose and the King's Arms, and the scents of Sunday dinner waft through the cool Spring air. Behind, the river rolls on, winding its sinuous way to the confluence, passing centuries of defence works, cutting Kent in two as it has always done.

I walk, up the cobbled gradient, away from the Medway, towards new quests...