# St Catherines Fort, Tenby, Wales



## DarkShadow

I have seen this fort on many occasions and it’s been winking at me since the first time I cast my eyes upon it. 

This fort was ordered as part of the Royal Commission on the Defence of the UK and was constructed on the small rocky island just off the shore at Tenby. It was designed to prevent a landing at Tenby, which could have served as a bridgehead, thereby securing the nearby Milford Haven from a possible overland attack from that direction. It formed the major work of a proposed defensive line running along the coast to Trewent consisting of batteries at Tenby, Caldy Island, Lydstep, Freshwater East and Freshwater West. The fort on St. Catherine’s Island at Tenby was the only one to be constructed.

The building, a simple rectangular work, was begun June 1867 and the fort was complete by 1867 with the exception of the guns and shields. These did not arrive until the mid 1880s. The cost including shields was £40,000. The fort consists of a series of gun casemates facing north to cover the harbour of Tenby and the beach towards Saundersfoot and to the south to flank the south beach towards penally and Manorbier. Each face held three 7-inch RML guns firing through iron shields.

Two small caponiers or rifle galleries protect the west face and entrance of the fort which is approached over a drawbridge. A spiral stair in each connects the upper and lower galleries. At the east end of the basement level are a powder magazine (cartridge store) and two main shell stores. Another spiral stair leads up to a mezzanine level on which are situated two more flanking galleries and stairs up to the roof. The roof was fitted with three gun platforms for 9-inch RMLs facing south east, one of which could achieve 360 degrees of traverse.

The fort was garrisoned from 1873 to 1910 and then from 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945. Different detachments served in the fort including the Royal Marines, 4th. Defence battery R.A., elements of the Belgian Army, The Home Guard, LAA(R.A.) and an R.A.F. ASR detachment. The fort was released by the Military after WWII In 1959 it was advertised for sale for £10,000 having been converted into a private residence called Gun Fort House. It was then used as a small zoo for a period of time until being abandoned once more. Various plans have been proposd for the fort, none of which have come to fruition.

There were two barriers to get through which were fairly solid so it was a sideways climb to seaward so that I was out if sight of land and then straight up the cliff face. A brief stop at the top to see if I’d attracted the attentions of the local bill and then on with the explore.







An old black and white photo that I found of the place.





A photo from the air showing how tricky it was to get in.





A free climb to the top and then on to the front door which was locked strangely enough.   















Once in through an opening there was a room that was full of debris.





After a clamber over the debris I was then in a corridor that had rooms leading off and spiral staircases at each end.

























Once up the level above what a fantastic building. It was almost like stepping out onto a set from Sharp. In fact, I was expecting a green clad Yorkshireman to come round the corner.








































Once on the roof the shots through the room lights give a different perspective of the floor we had just left and the views of Tenby were excellent.




















Time to go





We thought it would be best to walk out of the front door but the route over the bridge was a lot tougher from the top than it had seemed from the bottom so it was back down the cliff the way we came.






All in all an excellent day out and nice to see a fort that’s in such good nick.


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## Foxylady

Wow! What a fantastic place! Good report and pics, DS. Excellent explore...I'd never heard of this fort before today. Really enjoyed viewing that.


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## King Al

Beautiful place super pics, the bath is great, and all with a nice bit of history Hats off to you sir


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## DJhooker

Cool place that is!


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## reddwarf9

What an awesome find and explore, I luv these sort of places. Well done guys.


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## havoc

Quality, love places like these, nice work and pics.


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## Neosea

Great place, great pictures.


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## Dirus_Strictus

Shame it is now so derelict. In the late 70s / early 80s it was open as a tourist attraction, 50 pence (I think) gave you a good explore between the tides. However even then , the structure was showing its age unfortunately.


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## sheep2405

Very nice work guys


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## Indefatigable

Fantastic! I've always wondered what was in that place.


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## smileysal

Me too, looked at it longingly in the late 90's when i went there with the parents and now teenage. Always wanted to see inside there. 

Looking at the parquet floor being taken up, any ideas on whats happening to it? or the whole place in general? It would be nice to clean it up and make it safe again so everyone could go and have a look like it was years ago.

Cheers DS,

 Sal


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## DarkShadow

smileysal said:


> Me too, looked at it longingly in the late 90's when i went there with the parents and now teenage. Always wanted to see inside there.
> 
> Looking at the parquet floor being taken up, any ideas on whats happening to it? or the whole place in general? It would be nice to clean it up and make it safe again so everyone could go and have a look like it was years ago.
> 
> Cheers DS,
> 
> Sal



There's an even bigger one on an island in Milford Haven which I think is going to be an even cooler explore and I've got a boat.


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## smileysal

Cheers for that DS. 

The one at Milford Haven looks brilliant. But don't go out in a boat in this weather, its atrocious. 

Cheers,

 Sal


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## DarkShadow

smileysal said:


> Cheers for that DS.
> 
> The one at Milford Haven looks brilliant. But don't go out in a boat in this weather, its atrocious.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Sal



That part of the Haven is very protected and I have an ex RNLI Humber Tornado that can really do quite well in most weathers.


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## smileysal

ooooooooooooh you can't tell us that lol. we'll have you going everywhere. hehehe. Have you ever thought of going out to the redsands and shivering sands forts? or is that too dangerous? with it being in open water?


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## DarkShadow

smileysal said:


> ooooooooooooh you can't tell us that lol. we'll have you going everywhere. hehehe. Have you ever thought of going out to the redsands and shivering sands forts? or is that too dangerous? with it being in open water?



I've spent most of my time exploring underwater and really only just started exploring on the land with my camera. I'm just starting to cover the areas in Wales and some of the places where nobody has been to are offshore. I have the kit to be able to do it so I'm going. Offshore isn't a problem at all. The boat is a 5.7 meter RIB with an Evinrude V4 90 two stroke on the back so plenty of power to get my out of trouble if need be. I'm ex Royal Navy so I've been in some really horrific seas but I see it as fun and I've been diving with this kind of boat for quite a few years. When I take the boat out all onboard will wear survival suits with submersible marine radios and beepers clipped to their belts and all will be wearing self activating life jackets.


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## King Al

Milford Haven looks great, Looking forward to that report


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## ukmayhem

Sorry for bring this post back up but thankyou for a great read, I've admired this place 4 or 5 times a year for the last 12 years. We were alwys led to believe it was a prison not a fort but its great to know the true history now. I attempted a break i last year but my girlfriend got scared half way up so we went back down. Will have to give it ago again.


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## phill.d

Nice explore there mate.. Top notch


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## Landsker

Did you see the suit of armor thats up there?


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## Exploretime

Uninteresting news: http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/county/3222459._Stay_off_St_Catherine___s__warn_coastguards/


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## Spudgun

I've always wondered how it looked inside everytime I've been to Tenby[love the place] & it's.....well more modern than I imagined, if that makes sense.
I read somewhere some eccentric man owned it & ran it as some sort of zoo until he either abandoned it or ran out of money.


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## Ebenezer

Thanks so very much for undertaking this particular mission and taking such comprehensive photos.

Like most people who've ever laid eyes on the fort, I fell in love with it instantly and harbour deeply unrealistic ambitions to live in it one day.

Any sign of the ghost, by the way? (Someone's supposed to have hanged themselves in there many years ago.)

And have you ever sneaked into Scoveston Fort in Pembrokeshire? Enormous, but might make a great naturist resort one day. http://www.palmerstonforts.org.uk/gall/Scoveston.php

I feel really sorry for Hubberstone Fort near Milford Haven. Modern housing built all round it. What an awful fate.


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## Trinpaul

I love seeing pics of this place  it reminds me of the forts you see in and around Portsmouth. It must have been a miserable place during the winter months though


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## jonney

well worth the effort getting in guys. Great place,great pics.


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## daddybear

nice one chaps.did it lead down to a noodle mine!!lol


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## jonney

Well Daddybear you cannot bet a bit of chicken and mushroom pot noodle...


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## Explorer Girl

*Brings back memories*

My sister and I went just a little ways in, but we were too scared to go further. That was over 20 years ago! Thanks for the look.


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