Monument record TQ 87 NE 8 - Grain Fort and associated coastal artillery fortifications, Isle of Grain

(TQ 890767) Grain Fort (NAT) (1)

Grain Fort was heptagon-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 is being filled in (2).

Additional bibliography (3-6).

For reference of other historic military sites, see (7) and for reference of other defence sites in Kent, see (8).

Site photographs (9-12).

Grain Fort, built between 1861 and 1868, performed a central role in the Grain Fortifications; one of five artillery bastions built on the Isle of Grain from the mid 19th century onwards. The others were Grain Tower [TQ 87 NE 7], The Dummy Battery [TQ 87 NE 10], the Wing Battery [TQ 87 NE 9] and the Grain Battery [TQ 87 NE 1026]. Construction work on Grain Fort began after the 1860 Royal Commission into England's Coastal Defences. The report recommended that a large fort and auxiliary battery be built at Grain and that Grain Tower be strenghened and re-armed. Lack of funds left the Tower virtually unchanged.
The Fort was designed as a garrisoned and defensible semi-circular keep, surrounded by a polygonal earthwork, on top of which a 'terreplein' had gun emplacements. Behind the gun emplacements ran a fighting platform, while the main magazine for all the fortifications at Grain was located below the bank. The auxiliary battery built between 1867 and 1869 was named Grain battery and subsequently renamed Dummy Battery in 1901. It was linked to the Fort via a road carried in a cutting and a causeway [TQ 87 NE 118]. Grain Fort was rearmed at the turn of the twentieth century, when it formed part of the front line of defence for the Thames and Medway estuaries. It continued to serve as a heavy gun emplacement throughout the second world war. The military abandoned the site in 1956. Between 1961 and 1975 the apperance of the fort was substantially altered. The keep was completely removed and the site was partially infilled and levelled off. The field survey report uses original maps and on-site observations to detail the keep, the earthwork and the 'terreplein' and its emplacements [13].

Mentioned in Isle of Grain Historic Area Assessment conducted by English Heritage in 2014. Built between 1861 and 1868, it was "intended to command both rivers" (14).

Historic England, Archive material associated with Grain Tower, Isle of Grain (Archive). SKE54271.

<01> OS 25" 1933 (OS Card Reference). SKE48261.

<02> The Medway Forts 1976 22-3 (K R Gulvin) (OS Card Reference). SKE50423.

<03> A Handbook of Kent's Defences 1540-1945 1977 14 (D Bennett) (OS Card Reference). SKE32805.

<04> Coast Defences of Eng and Wales 1856-1956 1974 112-114 (IV Hogg) (OS Card Reference). SKE39033.

<05> Ant J 40 1960 153 172 (AD Saunders) (OS Card Reference). SKE33186.

<06> Not applicable, SMR Kent uncatalogued index entry, Pers. comm. V. Smith- KCC, 27/5/94. (Miscellaneous Material). SKE6440.

<07> Watson-Smyth, M. (ed.), 1993, Deserted Bastions - Historic Naval and Military Architecture (Monograph). SWX9394.

<08> Kent County Council, 1999, Survey of Kent post-1500 defence sites, KD87 (Index). SWX11828.

<09> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10238.

<10> 2000, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10236.

<11> 1942, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10000.

<12> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9555.

<13> RCHME, 1998, Coastal Artillery Fortifications on the Isle of Grain, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE12515.

<14> English Heritage, 2014, Isle of Grain, Hoo Peninsula, Kent: Historic area assessment (Monograph). SKE29397.