LOWER THAMES FORTS

Evening Star, Issue 21518, 16 September 1933, Page 1

LOWER THAMES FORTS

Long before the Great War the various forts on the banks of the River Thames below Gravesend ceased to be regarded as of any defensive value. In the August issue of ‘The P.L.A. Monthly ’ it is pointed out that when General Gordon Was stationed at Gravesend in the 1860’s he bad strong views as to their uselessness. “ Money for these ” (the Thames mouth defences) “ had been voted by Parliament in one of the panics which recurred at regular intervals during the reign of Queen Victoria. . , . Five forts were to be built, two on the Essex shore at Tilbury and Coalhouse, and three on the Kentish shore. Gordon had no sooner got to work than his professional eye saw that the whole project was useless. An invading force had only to land lower down the river, and the two forts on the Essex marshes would be untenable against its artillery on the hills half a mile in their rear. The forts on the Gravesend side at Cliffe and Shornmead could be turned into islands by cutting the river bank above them. All these were fortifications worthy of the Chinese, and no more able to put up any serious defence.”