| Summary : A "Palmerston Folly" fort on Portsdown Hill, one of a group of forts named after the Prime Minister who commissioned them, intended for the defence of Portsmouth Dockyard. It is particularly close in design to Fort Southwick [SU 60 NW 40]. Built by Captain Crossman, Royal Engineers, between 1861 and 1871 of brick with flint and stone dressings, the roofs concealed by earth. There is a surrounding moat with scarp and counterscarp walls set in flint. The fort was provided with ordnance after completion in 1871, passing into naval ownership in the 1920s. During World War II Fort Widley was home to the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Unit, being recorded in 1953 as the local Civil Defence headquarters. Taken into City Council ownership from 1961, the fort has been in use as an activity centre since 1990. A Victorian gun was relocated to Fort Widley from Broad Street, in front of Point Battery by 1999. Fort scheduled; listed Grade II*; gun emplacement listed Grade II. |
More information : (SU 657065) Fort Widley [NAT] (1)
Fort Widley (SU 657065)
Begun in late 1861, it was not completed until 1871. It then appears to have actually been provided with armament. Widley later became as inactive as the rest of the line, and had a similar history, passing into naval hands in the 1920s. (2)
Begun 1861, completed 1870; a polygonal fort with a land front, armed with 78 guns, accommodation for 226 personnel. In a partly restored state. Hexagonal; virtually identical to Fort Southwick apart from the ditch and caponier arrangements. Plan and photograph of fort, incorporating the gun mounted outside. (8)
Fort Widley is owned by Portsmouth City Corporation. (3)
Fort Widley is now a Portsmouth City Museum (open in the summer). (4)
Part of the Portsdown Hill defences. See SU 50 SE 26 for historical background. (5)
[Listed Building List Entry Uid 475032] Fort built circa 1860 by William Crossman, a captain in the Royal Engineers, constructed of red brick with flint and stone dressings, the roofs concealed by earth. Polygonal in plan, surrounded on three sides by a wide, dry, moat with scarp and counterscarp walls in flint, set between bays of brick piers with round relieving arches.
Extensive earthworks to ramparts with gun emplacements and magazines set within earthworks. Projecting into the rear or north moat is a brick caponier with embrasures.
Barrack block of two storeys, 13 bays, and single-storey stable block of 14 bays.
Listing NGR SU6610802158. Grade II*. (6)
From 1940 it was an "Action Post, Fire" (8); the next year being the home of the RE Bomb Disposal Unit (7)(8); housing prisoners of war in 1942. After 1943 it was used as an alternative control centre for Southwick House. (8)(12)
In 1953 the fort was used as the headquarters for local Civil Defence co-ordination. (7)(12). This function continued until the end of the Cold War period, finally closing in 1992. (12)
Maintained by Portsmouth City Council, who acquired the site 1961/1972, opening for public tours on summer weekends [as at 2002]. (8)
Described as an activity centre (8); run as one of the Peter Ashley Activity Centres since 1990. (9)
[Listed Building List Entry Uid 475033]. 68-pounder carronade gun of 1858, mounted on a wooden block, formerly recorded and listed (1972) as being in Broad Street, in front of Point Battery. Relisted 1999 as having been moved to a position in front of Fort Widley. Listed Grade II. (10)
HANTS 333 or PO 333. Begun 1861, virtually completed in 1868. Hexagonal, srrounded by a ditch, 50 feet wide at the bottom, flanked by one double and two single caponiers in two tiers. (11)
[No scheduling found for HANTS 331.]
History, design, photographs and plans of the site. (12)
FORT. SRF, with extra information, sketch plans, photographs. Fort Widley. Base End Station. Barrage Balloon Cable. War Office Telephone Poles. No 2 Troop, Bomb Disposal Squadron Engineers. Civil Defence Control / Rescue Training Sett. Prisoner of War Camp. Recorder= P. Cobb, D. Goodwin & B. Harrison. (13)
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