Photos - Cliffe Fort - Hoo peninsula, Kent - March 2008

[Maniac]

Cliffe fort was constructed in the mid 19th Century as part of the defence of the Thames against invasion. It is noteable as one of the launch sites of the Brennan Torpedo, which was a pioneering guided weapons system - you can still see the remains of the torpedo installation.

The fort was added to in WWII when observation towers were constructed, and anti aircraft guns were mounted within the fort. It was decomissioned shortly after the war. It is now owned by Robert Brett and sons, and stands derelict and decaying beside their gravel works.

The fort floods at high tide, as the sea flood defences at this point are pretty poor, the water readily breaches the wall at high tide, and the inside of the fort was flooded to a depth of more than a foot when we visited.

More Recent Additions

As you can see the place is very overgrown!

There would have been a huuuge gun in here

Thanks for Looking

Maniac.

 

[Neosea]

Nice find, shame its left to rot.

 

[Urban Mole]

Wow thats anice looking place there, sort of reminds me of Fort Gilkicker

 

[underitall]

Looks great. I havent seen it before, but the architecture looks VERY similar...Nice find.

 

[sqwasher]

Great find & super pics! Specially like the overview in pic 2 Shame it's left like that but it looks a fab explore non the less.

 

[Virusman26]

Great site for an explore. Very cool brick work in the roof. Nice one!

 

[Foxylady]

Yeh, I like pic 2 and pic 5 as well...looks like a cool site for a leisurely meander. Really like the inside of the fort and the WW2 observation posts. Good stuff!

 

[fire*fly]

great stuff, it reminds me alot of hurst fort, its like its neglected brother

 

[Maniac]

Thanks for all the comments people

Pic 2 was taken at the top of the observation tower that you see in pic 3 if I remember correctly. Although it looks rickerty, it's actually surprisingly stable still. It is a good site for a relaxed explore, there's a lot that we didn't get to on that day due to the water level on the ground floor.

I think a lot of the forts built in the 1800's were built to a simelar style, it reminded me of several places I've been to as well. It is amazingly intact considering the length of time it's been left for, a testament to people that built the place. It's noteable how the later additions have suffered a lot more than the origenal parts of the building.

Maniac.