Bembridge Fort - Isle of Wight - Oct 2008 [PIC HEAVY]

[Urban Mole]

This is a fort Ive wanted to get into for ages, and with it being in use, it was quite secure, so when I heard they were doing open days, I jumped at the chance.

Heres a bit of history;

Bembridge Fort, constructed as part of the 1860 Royal Commission defences of the Isle of Wight, was intended to be a
keep to the four coast batteries in Sandown Bay. It occupies the heights on Bembridge Down, commanding the space
between Brading Haven and the sea. It has a deep dry ditch surrounding it with a covered way and rifle parapet on the
outer side, complete with crochets. The fort was to serve as a last stand if the Isle of Wight was invaded. It was to be armed
initially with 20 guns. There were some alterations to the original design when single caponiers were substituted for double
ones and the scarp and counterscarp were fully revetted. The original armament fitted co nsisted of six 7-inch RBLs that
were replaced in 1893 by six 64pr. 71cwt RMLs on 6ft parapet carriages and two 4-inch B.L.s. on siege travelling
carriages. The 64prs were removed in 1900 but the 4-inch BLs remained until 1903. The fort then stored the moveable
armament for the eastern end of the island until at least 1910. Between 1880 and 1900 the fort was used as an experimental
test facility for experiments with anti-sub marine and anti-torpedo devices. Two cables ran from the fort to the sea and a
magnetic field between was to be used to detect any metal objects passing. The fort, for much of its existence was used as a
barracks and a store by various army units stationed in the locality; when Culver Down Battery was built the fort housed
the BOP and a PF cell and this continued until the end of WWII. Because of this the fort acted as a co-ordinating point for
the 9.2-in ch guns at Nodes Point Battery and Culver Down Battery. Two Allen Williams turrets were installed on th e roof.
The fort was placed in the hands of a caretaker from 1 945 to 1948 when it was relinquished. From then on to 1965 the
property was heavily vandalised until the IOW council purchased the property in 1965 and the National Trust bought it
from them in 1967.

In 2008 the fort was occupied by a light engineering firm. The National Trust have undertaken some clearance work
within the fort and open it to the public on a limited basis.

Link to Palmerston Forts site - http://www.palmerstonforts.org.uk/pdf/bemb.pdf

Plan of the fort.

Aerial view of the fort.

Approaching the draw bridge (thats now fixed).
Note the chain holes that would draw the bridge up.

Looking at the southern caponier from the bridge.

Looking northwest along the dry ditch.

Inside looking towards the bridge and gate.

Through the hatches these were actually cells, for naughty soldiers.

Inside the shell store.

And again, from a different angle.

The light boxes for the shell store.

Unsure of this, possibly an early shell lift.

The access to the back of the light boxes.

The parade ground/carpark/junk yard.

View of Bembridge, and sea fort, from the northeast open fighting position (OFP).

Looking at the Open Fighting Position from the outside.

Zooming in on St Helens sea fort.

Looking north along the dry ditch from the OFP.

Looking at the opening of the OFP

Tunnel access to the OFP from the main corridor.

Tunnel access to the southern caponier from the main corridor.

Inside the southern caponier.
Note the rotten/missing steel girders for the 1st floor, this is what the slate floor sat on, but over time its all rotten and fallen in.
The floors were slate and steel, to prevent any fire bombs from burning it down.

And again.

Parade ground, looking northeast.

Spigot mortar, on the terrepein.

One of the north, expense magazines.

Unknown mount, on the terreplein.

One of the two Allen Williams Turrets, located up on the terreplein.

Again.

Again.

The Allen Williams Turret from the outside.

One of the gun positions, for the 7" RBL guns.
Note the tie down points.

Inside one of the expense magazines, being used for water tanks.

One of the recent additions during WW2, a type of radar monotoring room.

Mounting platform on the roof, for various aerials.

A type of radar mount.

Another expense magazine.

A lewis gun pit up on the terreplein.

Closeup.

Hoist, with another expense magazine in background.

The northwest caponier, and ditch access door.

Northwest ditch access steps

The northwest OFP, now with roof, and caponier below.

Details about the fort.

Details about tours.

Leaving the bridge and gate

Well thats it guys, sorrry there wasnt as much stuff to see as I hoped, but the company Micronair rent most of it, and alot of it has been gutted by them, and also when it was derelict in the 60s.

Comments and suggestions welcome

 

[fluffy5518]

Looks like a crackin' little explore, Moley !!Well documented too mate with some good photos.Lovin'seeing some of that WWII stuff close up.Shame about the state of the parade ground and some of the damage done by the owners but on the whole it seems better than i had anticipated.See the weather was in yer favour as well.
Was you allowed to wander around alone or was it truely a guided tour.??

 

[Urban Mole]

Hi Nigel, it was a guided tour, by someone from the national trust.
You were allowed to wonder about within reason, but they wernt keen on it, as I did now and then
It is a pity its in such a state now, like I said, alot of it is gutted, and some of the internal rooms were turned into offices etc, and loosing its originality.

 

[T-bar]

was kinda fun to say we did it but soooooo empty

 

[Faing]

Wow, i feckin' love the drawbridge entrance

 

[oldscrote]

Cracking photos moley,could yer unknown mount be a centre for a hoist/crane similar to one in a recent railyard post?

 

[Foxylady]

Excellent stuff as always, Urb. Some nice bits and bobs there and good to see that it hasn't been too tarted up by the National Trust.
Cheers.

 

[Urban Mole]

Thanks Foxy, the NT are trying to get some of it sorted out, they have cleared out one or 2 of the caponiers, as they were full of rubbish.
And I think they need to try and get some of the original stuff back in the rooms that are empty, ones that were used for the submarine listening rooms, etc etc, as I think its way too bare.

 

[AndyC]

Love the spigot mortar. Never seen one like that.

 

[cptpies]

Thanks Mole, a great explore

What you have called a Lewis gun mount is correctly know as a Motley Mount, vanishingly rare, normally only the base socket exists, unfortunately half of this one is missing.

It would have looked like this.