| Summary : Landguard Fort is located in Felixstove, Suffolk. The earliest known fortification on the site was a small sconce of earth reinforced with timber and brushwood built in 1543. It was dismantled in 1552, but rebuilt and garrisoned in 1588. A second fort was built in 1625, square in plan with acute angled bastions and surrounded by a moat. In the Battle of Landguard Fort in 1667 (1584112) a Dutch landing was repulsed. By 1708 the fort was so decayed that it was decided to demolish and replace it. In 1717 work began on a new battery, located in the area now occupied by the south-western part of the extant fort. The new battery was an irregular pentagon in plan, without bastions, with 20 cannon and a small barracks at the rear. The barrack block was enlarged in 1730-31, and sometime after 1736 a new battery was constructed on the south-west side of the fort. Between 1744 and 1749 Landguard Fort was rebuilt in the form which it largely retains, as a larger, regular pentagon with angle bastions, surrounded by a moat. It was built of brick with stone dressings and enclosed a parade ground containing a barrack block, the Lieutenant Governor's house and officers' quarters. The gate, on the north-east side, was flanked by a guardroom and a cookhouse with a chapel above. From 1775-1783 the fortifications were extended and in 1807, the ramparts of the fort were strengthened. There were then no further alterations until the major rebuild of 1871-1876. No significant alterations were made during World War I; however in World War II, the fort was the Fire Command Heaquarters for the defences in Harwich Haven. On 6 June 1944 troops and tanks were deployed from Landguard as part of the second phase of the Normandy landings. In 1956 the fort was decommissioned but remained in use by the Army until the following decade. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I Listed Building, open to the public through the Landmark Trust and English Heritage. |
More information : (TM 284319) Landguard Fort. (1)
(Centred TM 28463195 sited from map in authority (2)) Landguard Fort (War Department) was first constructed in 1540-5 at Langer Point as a six-sided blockhouse, and rebuilt in 1624-8 300 yards south-west as a square fort with acute angel bastions. In 1716-20 it was demolished and rebuilt a little to the north of the earlier site (2). Extensive alterations were made in 1871 but the exterior remains unchanged. Grade I (4). (2-4)
No remains of the 16th century fortifications survive, but the fort can be sited at TM 28503192 from an old plan (a). The present fort built in 1716 retains the greater part of the outer wall plan, but the interior was extensively modernised in 1875. The buildings are now mostly derelict and used by the D of E as a store. See ground photographs and illustration card (a). Published survey (25") correct. (5)
Listed. (6)
History of the fort until 1660. (7)
The crisis of 1744 stimulated the remodelling of the fort. Initially it was a bastioned pentagon with a ditch, covered way, and glacis. However it was heavily criticised for the bastions being too small and the casemates and ramparts being too small to take heavy artillery. To remedy this two batteries, Beauclerk's Battery, were added and extended to left and right on the covered way, and two redoubts added facing the channel. The fort now mounted 115 guns of all types. Beauclerck's Battery was razed in 1876.
During the Napoleonic War the fort was further modernised and up-gunned. By 1853, the fort was regarded as obsolete, but nothing was done until 1870. Then, the fort interior was gutted and replaced by a semi-circular barrack block. The main face and centre bastion were replaced by 7 casemates faced in granite, mounting 7 rifled muzzle loaders, and a caponier was built from the central bastion. The remaining bastions were rebuilt to mount RMLs and howitzers.
The Stanhope Report of 1887 identified further weaknesses in defence from the North-East, and the Left Battery was built a little to the NE of Landguard, being completed in 1891. It mounted a 6" gun and a 10" gun, the latter mounted on an Anderson and Easton disappearing carriage, the only one of its type in Britain. The 10" was not adopted for service and the gun was replaced by a 6" Mk 4 breech loader in 1898.
Between 1898-1901 a second battery facing East, the Right Battery, was constructed SE of Landguard, and mounted two 6", a 10" and a 9.2" gun. The battery was in use in WWII and was dismantled in 1956.
The construction of Darell's battery in front of the casemates in 1901 ended the defensive usefulness of the fort, although it remained in use as the command post for the Harwich defences until 1956. Darell's or the Minefield Battery, was built to cover the minefield with 2 quick-firing 4.7" guns. It was closed in 1956. (8)
additional reference. (9)
Landguard Fort, built in the 18th century and extensively remodelled in the 1870s. It is thought that buried remains of an earlier, 17th century fort also survive beneath and to the east of the 18th century fort. The fort is situated on a shingle spit on the east side of Harwich Harbour and, in conjunction with other fortifications such as Beacon Hill Battery on the opposite side of the Orwell and Stour estuary, was designed to protect the harbour and dockyard.
The earliest known fortification on Landguard Point was a small sconce of earth reinforced with timber and brushwood which was constructed in 1543. This was dismantled in 1552 but rebuilt and garrisoned in 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada. A map of 1715 shows the remains of this as an hexagonal earthwork measuring about 37m on each side. It is no longer visible however and the probable site has been lost to coastal erosion.
A second fort, which is shown on the early 18th century plan in a position partly underlying the 18th century fort and extending to the east of it, was built in 1625 for defence against coastal raids by pirates from Dunkirk. This was built of turves and designed by Simon Van Cranfeld in the Dutch style. Square in plan with acute angled bastions at the four corners, it was surrounded by a moat 18m wide which was crossed on the north side by a timber causeway and drawbridge.
Following the start of the second Dutch War in 1665, work was begun on strengthening the fort but these modifications, which included the addition of a flint and stone revetment, were not completed until late in the century.
By 1708 the 17th century fort was in a state of decay, and it was decided to demolish and replace it. In 1717 work began on a new battery, located in the area now occupied by the south western part of the standing fort. The new battery was an irregular pentagon in plan, without bastions. It included a small barrack block at the gorge (rear) and had an armament of 20 cannon. The barrack block was enlarged in 1730-31, and sometime after 1736 a new battery with a further ten guns was constructed on the glacis on the south west side of the fort, facing the harbour entrance.
Between 1744 and 1749 Landguard Fort/the battery was rebuilt in the form which it largely retains, as a larger, regular pentagon with bastions at the angles, surrounded by a moat. It was constructed of brick with stone dressings and enclosed a parade ground of about 0.4ha containing a barrack block on the south west side and the Lieutenant Governor's house and Officers quarters on the north west. The gate, on the north east side, was flanked by a guardroom and a cookhouse with a chapel above. During the American War of Independence (1775-1783) the fortifications were extended by an engineer officer called Thomas Hyde Page.
In 1807, the ramparts of the fort were strengthened and apart from successive updating of the armament, the fort underwent no further alteration until 1870. It was at this time that a review of the Harwich defences found that it was outdated and so the decision was taken to carry out a major rebuilding. This rebuilding, carried out between 1871 and 1876, resulted in the fortress which remains substantially unaltered to this day.
No significant structural alterations were made during World War I, although a 3 inch Anti-aircraft gun was added to the then existing armament of four guns, and four new searchlights were installed on the site of earlier lights dating to 1901, of which fragments survive. (10)
History and excavations. (11)
During World War II, Landguard Fort was the Fire Command Headquarters for the defences in Harwich Haven. As a result, armaments were upgraded and new engine rooms and searchlights built by 1941. Extensive land defences were also constructed and in 1944 the fort was installed with radar. The threat to Harwich and Landguard receded as the war progressed and on 6 June 1944 troops and tanks were deployed from Landguard as part of the second phase of the Normandy landings.
In 1956 Landguard Fort was decommissioned, however it was used by the Army until the following decade. Today the fort is opened up to the public as a tourist attraction by the Landguard Fort Trust and English Heritage. See source for further information as well as photographs, maps and plans of the site. (12)
This article outlines the improvements carried out at Landguard Fort by Sir Thomas Hyde Page between 1778 and 1785. He transformed Landguard into a much larger defensive structure. According to Pattinson, '[t]he significance of Page's works...lies in the shift which the entrenched camp represents in military thinking - from a static form of defence around a strategic installation, to one with an element of mobility, from which troops could deploy from a protected place to meet enemy forces which had landed.' (13)
This article describes the first permanent fort built at Landguard from 1625 until 1630. See article for details as well as plans and maps. (14)
This article discusses the conservation of Languard Fort which was completed in 2002. (15)
For the account of the Battle of Landguard Fort in 1667, please see 1584112. (16)
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