Fort Darnet
Fort Darnet is the ruin of a fort on an island in the River Medway in the English county of Kent . The Palmerston Fort , like Fort Hoo , was built at the behest of the Royal Commission in 1859 in the upper navigable section of the River Medway.
Originally the fort was designed to have two rows of guns in a circle and with a beam barrier stretched between the fort and Fort Hoo , but there were many problems with the settlement of the building. After massive cost overruns, the fort was completed in 1871 with just one row of 11 guns. It was a mixture of 7 "and 9" front loaders with rifled barrels, the bar lock was not used. Both forts were never used in the war and were decommissioned before the First World War .
During the Second World War the fort served as an observation post; there were pillboxes installed on it. The fort is still relatively well preserved today, but the magazine level appears to have been deliberately flooded to prevent unauthorized entry and vandalism. The island is free to visit by boat, but all of its banks are muddy.
Web links and sources
- Plan of Chatham's defenses. ECastles.
- Darnet Fort, Medway . Victorian forts.
- Video of a visit to Fort Darnet by canoe. YouTube.
Coordinates: 51 ° 24 ′ 24 ″ N , 0 ° 35 ′ 49 ″ E