Fort Amherst (Throwback post)

Fort Amherst, Chatham

Like most people, we are generally pretty bad about visiting places where we live. So while we were back in Kent, we joined my family for a trip to Fort Amherst, in Chatham. We had been to the Chatham Dockyards before, but never here.

Fort Amherst, Chatham

The Fort has its origins in a Dutch attack on Chatham Dockyard, way back in 1667. The resulting damage and loss prompted a bid to improve security from both sides - the river Medway and the land behind.

It took them a long time to actually get around to it though, and it was 1755 before work started. They made use of an old chalk pit, extending out the caves to form a big network of tunnels. With their own well, cannon positions and entrances that were strategically planned to improve their defence, the tunnels gave an excellent base for the garrison to defend the dockyards.

Fort Amherst, Chatham

One small artefact that I found interesting was a petard, which is a lump of cast iron with a hollow centre. The well was filled with gunpowder and hung on the gates of a fortified structure, with the opening against the gate.

Fort Amherst, Chatham

When the gunpowder was lit, if done correctly, it would blast open the gate. Of course, setting these was a dangerous task, with a nasty death awaiting should the job be done wrong, or the powder blew too early. In which case you were said to be 'hoist on your own petard'.

Fort Amherst, Chatham

The tunnels fell out of use in 1820, but they were put back in action in World War II, when it was used as the Civil Defence Headquarters. A section of the tunnels has been set up as it would have been during the war, and you can see the kind of incident boards they used, as well as other paraphanalia from the times.

I was a little concerned to hear about the SS Richard Montgomery, a US Liberty ship still containing around a quarter (1,400 tonnes) of its cargo of ammunition and explosives, that was wrecked in 1944. It remains there, only 1,2 miles offshore near Sheerness, in water shallow enough that you can see the top of the masts poking up, with the structure of the vessel deteriorating. If the contents were to detonate, it would cause a vast explosion, which, depending on which account you read, could blow out every window in Sheerness, or kill thousands of people.

Fort Amherst, Chatham

Fort Amherst, Chatham

Fort Amherst, Chatham

Fort Amherst, Chatham

Fort Amherst, Chatham

Fort Amherst, Chatham

Fort Amherst, Chatham

Fort Amherst, Chatham

Fort Amherst, Chatham