# Royal Naval Defences - Sheerness



## sheep21 (Apr 8, 2009)

Hi there, first post, wooo!

These are photos I took in early February 2009 of the Victorian & WW2 defences of the then Royal Naval Dockyard:

*Background*
After Dutch Raid on the Medway Samuel Pepys orderd the construction of a new Naval Dockyard to be located at sheerness, Isle of Sheppy. Construction of the first drydock was completed in 1708 and from then to 1960 the base remained in Royal Naval ownership. 

The dockyard expanded over the next 200 years and was a key base for the Navy's Nore Command right up until closure. With its commanding views over the River Medway, as well as the valuable asset that the dockyard was itself numerous defences were constructed. Ranging from a Star Fort, Victorian Gun batteries, two Victorian Artillery Forts (including a Martello tower) as well as later WW2 era bunkers, observation posts and a command building for the medway defences. In the event of a German invasion mines would be blown up across the entire width of the channel by remote control at sheerness.

The dockyard closed in 1960 and is now sheerness port which handles a large amount of international trade, particularly in automobiles. The site is currently owned by Medway Ports.

*The Photos*







17th Century Starfort remains





sane as above looking toward the martello towers & control tower.





Observation post for a long gone artillery piece





same post taken from the inside where the gun would have sat.





control room for the gun positions above, there are the remains of some sort of electrical board in the top left of the shot.





Victorian Martello tower with later WW2 observation post (or Gun Battery?)looking out into the channel





Same Martello tower as above with control tower behind it. its top stories (those visible from the sea) are made to look as if they were a small house, sneaky eh?





Control tower still in pretty good nick, from here hundreds of naval mines would have been detonated if the Germans tried to invade.





Victorian Martello tower with a later observation point added on top.





Looking out from a small concrete observation post toward the Medway\Thames Estuary





WW2 small gun position with original metal blinds that would originally have slid back for the gun to fire, now they are rusted solid and the place seems to have been used by a tramp as a squat at some point.





inside part of the Victorian defences, there are a number of solid brick bunkers and tunnels, I thought this might have been a store room?

Alas, I forgot my flashgun  so couldnt take any of the victorian magazines or the shell hoist still intact!

Hopefully I will be able to update this next month after I have gone back, flashgun in hand!


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## DigitalNoise (Apr 8, 2009)

Nicely done chap, I keep meaning to get over there, those towers look menacing.


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## shatters (Apr 8, 2009)

Welcome along sheep,

What a great way to introduce yourself to the site.

Great pics of an interesting site

Keep them coming

Phil


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## sheep21 (Apr 8, 2009)

thanks gents. there is alot there. 

The towers are huge, I didn't quite realise how big till I was actually standing at the bottom of one. There is alot there, I heartily recommend a visit. Only a £20 or so train journey from London aswell


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## Black Shuck (Apr 8, 2009)

That really is some evil looking site Sheep. Fantastic shots mate. Well done.


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## sheep21 (Apr 8, 2009)

thankyou!

oh yes, one more I forgot to put up, it doesnt really show much, just looking out from the entrance (what I think was a small magazine for the lower calibre weapons. Victorian aswell. Just love the light.






All i need now is to go back with a flashgun 

the weird red stuff is from where the back of my camera popped open slightly! Luckily slammed it shut PDQ but I lot 4 shots totally. There are disadvantages to film


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## Black Shuck (Apr 8, 2009)

Sheep just a quick question. You say you forgot your Flashgun. I go in a lot of disused railway tunnels right, would a Flashgun make a big difference to lighting a Tunnel in the pitch black.!? Not being an out and out Photographer I would not know, sorry for my ignorance.


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## sheep21 (Apr 8, 2009)

Black Shuck said:


> Sheep just a quick question. You say you forgot your Flashgun. I go in a lot of disused railway tunnels right, would a Flashgun make a big difference to lighting a Tunnel in the pitch black.!? Not being an out and out Photographer I would not know, sorry for my ignorance.



I cant honestly tell you old sport, I would imagine, if powerful enough it would help aye, no huuuuuge tunnels near me to try it out on  I would say you would be better with one than without mind, cant hurt can it?

And im not an out and out photographer either! I just know that it lights things up, as for results, I have to wait till I get the prints back from boots 

EDIT: Thought you said RAILWAY tunnels! Normal man sized or the like I would imagine they would light up the space quite efficiently, depending on size of course. Better to ask an expert though.


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## Black Shuck (Apr 8, 2009)

sheep21 said:


> I cant honestly tell you old sport, I would imagine, if powerful enough it would help aye, no huuuuuge tunnels near me to try it out on  I would say you would be better with one than without mind, cant hurt can it?
> 
> And im not an out and out photographer either! I just know that it lights things up, as for results, I have to wait till I get the prints back from boots
> 
> EDIT: Thought you said RAILWAY tunnels! Normal man sized or the like I would imagine they would light up the space quite efficiently, depending on size of course. Better to ask an expert though.



Yes I did say Rail Tunnels mate. If you look at some of the tunnel pics in the archives they are lit fantastically. I would love to know how they do that!


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## LiamCH (Apr 8, 2009)

I definitely wouldn't recommend a flash for railway tunnels. Look at the difference between this:






And this:






The first was taken using a flash. The second was taken when I returned a year later with a very large torch (20,000 candles). Put the camera on a tripod and take a fifteen second exposure. Then just wave the torch around to light up the picture. It should come out a treat with a bit of practice. That was my first attempt at doing it - it's not hard. It's not just useful in railway tunnels either - you can use an ordinary sized torch to lightpaint even a small room, and it looks a lot better and less washed out than a torch.

Here's the sort of torch you can use:


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## sheep21 (Apr 8, 2009)

excellent shot there!

How much did that set you back?


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## LiamCH (Apr 8, 2009)

sheep21 said:


> excellent shot there!
> 
> How much did that set you back?



They only cost about ten or fifteen pounds, but remember that the battery will often only last between ten and fifteen minutes. Not really long enough to use to walk a tunnel, but certainly enough for a good few photographs.


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## Black Shuck (Apr 8, 2009)

I have got a 3.5 million power torch from B and Q but I am sure my Fuji will only get 8 seconds exposure.


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## Foxylady (Apr 8, 2009)

Hot damn, that's a good site! So many interesting emplacements!
The control tower's really cool. 
Excellent pics, sheep. I thought they were film! I would've asked if you hadn't mentioned it yourself. 
Welcome to DP, btw.


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