Casemate 76

UK:

A classic four bastioned structure, Fort Augustus at the foot of Loch Ness formed a key defence against the Jacobites until 1746, when a lucky mortar hit blew up the magazine and the fort surrendered. In Victorian times the fort was sold and largely demolished to build an abbey, leaving two forlorn bastions, one of which was demolished about 50 years ago. The remaining bastion has had one face cement rendered and been stripped of its cordon, while a large hole has been driven through the other. The sketch below is of the bastion which was destroyed.

There is a proposal to erect a sort of penthouse structure or skylight in the centre, where once there was an attractive circular pavilion. Car parking is proposed right up to the walls. Member Dr Christopher Duffy has written to the Listings Inspector for Historic Scotland commenting on the proposals and suggesting a way forward, without receiving a constructive reply, and reported to the Ft Augustus & Area Heritage Group and the Council of the 1745 Association. Chris notes that 'My comments (most of which were in fact favourable and positive) came to the notice of the developer [the Raven Group], who has announced that he is now justified in banning all would-be visitors to the site, which must awaken the most lively concerns for what he has in mind'. The 1745 Association party was virtually smuggled into the site, and whisked out again, and now all visitors are barred. Chris intends to take this further; he also notes that at Fort William, he understands from locals that when the road system was extended, artifacts like cannon balls were found and simply thrown away. All is not well in Scotland.

My management of contributions has let me down; in March 2005 David Skuse sent in a cutting from his local paper, the Newcastle Journal, 28 February 2005, reporting that 'plans to breathe new life into a collection of decaying wartime relics on the Northumberland coastline have been boosted by a lottery funding study'. It is hoped that the WWI Blyth Battery, built to defend the nearby submarine base at Blyth harbour, will become an important tourism and educational resource if the crumbling buildings are repaired and conserved. Consultants consider the battery to be high in archaeological and historical importance, on a national scale, and the most intact, accessible and intelligible coast defence battery on the NE coast. A local councilor considers the battery to be 'quite a little diamond on our doorstep'. Music to our ears.

By email from Richard Clisby: The Guardian January 24 2006 carried a report from Kim Willsher in Paris: 'Hidden for 60 years: the Nazi beach bunker found by Briton'. 'A secret underground military complex abandoned by the Nazis as Allied forces stormed Normandy after D-day has been found by an English amateur historian. Gary Sterne came across the series of bunkers that had lain untouched for more than 60 years after buying a WWII map from an old American soldier. Armed with his map he visited the area near the Normandy beaches of Utah and Omaha, where he found the entrance to the military complex hidden under bramble bushes. He was astonished to discover a labyrinth of bunkers, control rooms and equipment abandoned by the Germans' at Grandcamp Maisy in Normandy. Mr Sterne intends to turn it into a tourist attraction.
The Sun, 25 January 2006, reported the event in rather different language; 'History is bunker' gives an indication of their style. Edifying stuff. But there is no such thing as bad publicity of course.

Grain Tower, built in 1855 at the mouth of the Medway to protect Chatham, is on the market for £700k. The price reflects the value of the 1800ft x 150ft+ riverbed freehold, with its potential for a jetty with 'liveaboard' moorings. The original granite tower carried 1x56-pdr and 2x32-pdr cannon on the roof; in 1910-12 two 4.7-in QFs replaced the cannon, and in 1940 the tower was further modified to take a twin 6-pdr QF. A brick built searchlight position and barracks were added, and a concrete BOP. The tower also served as the anchor for a chain defence and the remains of the staging and part of the chain are visible, as below.

Initiated by a phone call from Alistair Graham Kerr, and followed up with Nick Catford. If you have the interest and the wherewithal to follow up the offer, the agents are www.houseboatcentre.co.uk, tel: 01634 255810.

It's those bunkers again; an item from a Cornish paper, not sure which, on 29 December 2005, reports the sale of a Royal Observer Corps bunker in St Agnes, for £12,800 after 'frenzied bidding'. A single underground room of 15x17ft, it has tremendous views in three directions, and after original use in WWII, continued to be used during by the ROC during the Cold War period, to report in the event of a nuclear attack. Some interesting background is given; in 1991 there were 36 posts in Cornwall, and 875 scattered around the country, reporting to 25 operations rooms, one in Truro in Cornwall. At least 80 have been sold off in the last 10 years, for between £5-25k. Lawrence Holmes, Chairman of the local ROC Association, says some have been used for underground storage, and others have been used for growing mushrooms. Most of them have been preserved by people who want to own a bit of local war memorabilia. It's a heritage thing.' Sent by Jeff Carson, who served for 2 years on this post and went to the auction with 5 other ex-ROC members.

Bill Clements has passed on a cutting from Panorama, 27 September 2005, sent by Paul Hodkinson from Gibraltar, reporting a 'major scheme to beautify and refurbish' the Chatham Counterguard and local area.

Plan showing proposed works. (from plan in Panorama).

Phase I of 'this major new road and urban renewal scheme' will involve demolishing 'sheds' in the Counterguard, and creating a new road through it, linking two others and decongesting, among others, Glacis Road. Oddly enough the printed plan shows none of the names mentioned in the text, but Paul has penciled them in to make some sense of it all. Plans for later phases involve the 'recovery of Orange Bastion' which sounds promising.

Our 2005 Conference at Hull has stimulated several references; Alan Williamson, lead organiser of the Tour, wrote a report for Gateway, the magazine of Associated British Ports, whose Humber Estuary Services team took us out to Bull Sand Fort. Alan's report is somewhat more lighthearted than mine, its title 'A Load of Bull?' sets the tone. Also mentioned with thanks is Harbour Master Capt Phil Cowling, who I had omitted from my report.
More seriously, the Yorkshire Post on 30 December 2005 reports that 'Streetwise', the charity which bought the fort in 1997 with the aim of using it as an isolated drug detox centre has run into problems. Generators needed for work to transform the fort have been taken out, but a grant application to install wind turbines has failed. The charity will continue but is disappointed that they will have to use 'dirty diesel engines instead of clean free electicity'. From Alastair Fyfe.
The fortifications and C16th blockhouse are mentioned briefly in a fascinating report in Civil Engineering, the magazine of the Institute of Civil Engineering, sent by Quentin Spear. Subject of the report is The Deep, a huge aquarium on the riverside; the geotechnical investigations make interesting reading, as does the use of a 'bomb map', showing where bombs had hit during WWII - there were plenty of them in Hull.

Woodside Castle, Ayrshire, Scotland, a C16th B listed castle is on the market for a mere £995k. The square tower (1551) forms part of the mansion, progressively enlarged until 1848 and originally the seat of the Ralstons and after 1704 the Earl of Dundonald.

Fort Picklecombe, Plymouth: The Officers Mess (1848), Grade II Listed. Apartments and penthouses of 2-4 bedrooms are for sale at £285-£525k - the last ideal for the FSG Library. In 1860-66 the battery below mounted 21x64-pdr RMLs, was armed until the 1920s, sold by the military in 1956 and converted into apartments in 1970-75.

Alistair Graham Kerr and Zita Cliffe

News from the US:

Alastair Fyfe has emailed an Associated Press report by Richard Pyle, from 7 December 2005, headed 'Manhattan subway tunnel work uncovers old fortifications'.
Workers extending a subway tunnel under historic Battery Park, at the southern tip of Manhattan, recently unearthed a section of stone wall that apparently is part of fortifications dating to New York's pre-Revolutionary era. Preliminary inspection shows the mortared stone wall is more than 40ft long and 7ft wide reaching down to bedrock 10ft below the surface. It appears to be part of a gun emplacement connected with one of the several forts, dating from the early C17th that gave Battery Park its name. A British King George II halfpenny coin dated 1744 helps confirm the site as an important part of New York City history.
The report gives background history to the site, including nearby Castle Clinton, and the Verrazano narrows defences (FSG1998). The discovery was not expected to halt the project; the tunnellers 'will work round it', but there is nothing in the report on the future of the remains.

Charles Bogart sends sad news from Astoria, Oregon, at Fort Clatsop, where a 50-year old replica of the fort has been destroyed by fire (local paper, 5 October 2005, not sure which). The fort marks the site of the 1805/6 winter encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition during their 2000 mile westward journey. Named after the local Clatsop Indians, who taught the expedition many of their skills, the fort provided a very lively hands-on experience for over 200k visitors a year. There is no gas or electricity in the fort.

It's an ill wind... American Archaeology Winter 2005 also reports on the burning of Fort Clatsop, noting that it will provide an unexpected opportunity to carry out archaeological excavations on the site, inaccessible since the building of the replica, which is expected to be 'completed by next summer'. Excavation could find definitive remains of the original fort.