# South Hook Fort Battery, Pembrokeshire



## Exploretime (Apr 18, 2010)

Once every so often the sun shines in the lovely county of Pembrokeshire, and on the few days of the year that it does it would be rude not to make the most of it and go exploring.
I havent posted any reports in a while but im hoping that this summer will bring many fun explores, and some new finds.
Anyway i havent been out with the camera for a while and so im a little rusty at the moment, i need more practice and unfortunatly i visited here unprepared, i really could have done with bringing a torch and a tripod. But anyone who visited here will know that its quite a walk from where you park up, so i went with just me(solo) and a camera. I was quite amazed at how well some of the items inside had lasted and there was very little sign of vandalism. 

Heres some history:
South Hook fort was built between 1859 and 1865, consisting of a 2 storey horseshoe shaped barracks with four foot thick walls behind a 20 gun battery facing out to sea.
It was used in 1886 during the "Milford haven experiment" as part of a study into defending a commercial port. In 1890, the western 15 gun battery was demolished to make way for batteries for two 10" BL and three 10" RML guns, however, only one 10" BL gun was ever mounted. This was again replaced between 1900 and 1904 by batteries for three 6" BLs and a 9.2" BL. The western end of the covered way was adapted to take three 6 pounder QFs, again these were never mounted, but adapted once more to take two 12 pounder QFs instead. These were withdrawn in July 1935 and sent to the east blockhouse to form a training battery.
The fort was sold in 1936, however, it was requisitioned at the beginning of the second world war and was called HMS Skirmisher operated by WRENs controlling all Naval movements in the haven. In the late 1950s, ESSO bought the site and built an oil refinery which has since been demolished. It has now once again been purchased and turned into an LNG terminal and unfortunatly the fort is within the securly fenced area belonging to the refinery! But luckily the battery remains outside the boundry and is just off the coastal path.

LNG terminal jetty





Before the jetty(1910)





Beware:




































Lovely sink units:








Even the light is still in one piece:




























Vents:




Table:




Steel doors:




















On route to South Hook Fort:


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## borntobemild (Apr 18, 2010)

Very nice. Looks like it must have been a cold and inhospitable place.

Regular visitor to Pembrokeshire. Must try and escape from the family next time and do more stuff.

That last photo is interesting. Were those guys on their way to/from work? If they were they certainly started them young!


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## the_historian (Apr 18, 2010)

Sheer Manna from Heaven- thanks!
It's almost identical to the contemporary battery at Carlingnose, North Queensferry, Scotland, but most of that has now been developed.
Great to see one almost in pristine condition.


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## dangerous dave (Apr 18, 2010)

did you go in the passage to the left hand side


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## Exploretime (Apr 18, 2010)

> did you go in the passage to the left hand side



No i didnt but i see you have. Whats in there mate? I didnt realise it was a passage until i came home and looked at your report.


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## Exploretime (Apr 19, 2010)

borntobemild said:


> That last photo is interesting. Were those guys on their way to/from work? If they were they certainly started them young!



Im not sure what the last photo is about to be honest . All i know is that those people are heading to South Hook fort, but from what i can see it looks like its some kind of Parade? I only added it becease i havent seen many old pictures relating to this fort in particular. 
Drop me a PM when your next in Pembrokeshire if you like.

Cheers.


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## Exploretime (Apr 19, 2010)

Found these photos aswell which show the Batterys position in relation to the fort:










And a couple of really hard to find pictures of the fort being used as a club before dereliction:


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## chris (Apr 19, 2010)

Really great set of pictures. I hope to get over there this year


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## DigitalNoise (Apr 19, 2010)

Great stuff, well done!


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## chizyramone (Apr 19, 2010)

Nice one Dumpty.

Was down for the whole of last week,but darn that fine weather!!! Had to spend most of it down Newgale,Broad Haven,Abereiddy,crabbing down Burton............


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## night crawler (Apr 20, 2010)

Wondered what you had been up to when I saw them on Flickr. Good report.


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## Foxylady (Apr 20, 2010)

Excellent pics and write-up, Dumpty. Very nice explore and loads of interesting remains.


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