Slough Fort
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Slough Fort is a small artillery fort that was built at Allhallows-on-Sea in the north of the Hoo Peninsula in Kent. Constructed in 1867, the D-shaped fort was intended to guard a vulnerable stretch of the River Thames against possible enemy landings during a period of tension with France. Its seven casemates initially accommodated rifled breech loading guns, which were replaced by the turn of the century by more powerful breech-loaders on disappearing carriages, mounted in concrete wing batteries on either side of the fort. It was likely one of the smallest of the forts constructed as a result of the 1860s invasion scare.[1]
Slough Fort | |
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Allhallows-on-Sea, Kent, England | |
Coordinates | 51.475737°N 0.644842°E / 51.475737; 0.644842 |
Type | Fortification |
Site information | |
Owner | Private owners |
Condition | Mostly intact |
Site history | |
Built | 1867 |
Built by | United Kingdom |
In use | 1867–1929 |
Materials | Concrete, granite, brick, Kentish ragstone |
All of the guns were removed by 1912, though the fort continued in use during the First World War as a command post. It was decommissioned in 1920 and sold off in 1929. Since the 1960s, it has been used as a stables adjoining a holiday camp. The camp's owners funded a partial restoration in 2012–13 that uncovered previously buried features of the fort.