New Tavern Fort

New Tavern Fort was constructed between 1780-1783. The fort takes its name from the New Tavern Inn that had stood on the site before the forts construction.

Originally the fort was an irregular earthwork in front of which was an unrevetted ditch. The forts armament consisted of 15 heavy guns (24 and 32 pounders) that fired through embrasures. By 1790s further additions had been made to the fort these including the commanding Royal Engineers quarters, stables, magazines, a caponier and a loopholed rear defence wall.

Throughout the 1800s the fort underwent several major reconstructions and rearmament namely due to the 1860 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom.

In 1865 Lt. Col. Charles G. Gordon (later General) became commanding Royal Engineer and was tasked with the reconstruction and updating of the Thames defences. His work included the overseeing of the demolishing of the existing magazines and ramparts at the fort so that the ramparts could be remodelled to accommodate new magazines, 11 new emplacements were built out of brick and of which 7 were fronted with iron shields being armed with 10 9-inch and 1 12-inch RML guns.

At the turn of the 20th Century the fort had lost it’s importance, it’s RML guns became obsolete and its defensive structures were deemed weak and overcrowded. The 11 emplacements were demolished in 1905 being replaced by 2 concrete pit emplacements each holding a 6-inch breech loading gun. The guns only stood watch over the Thames for a few years before being removed. During World War One the fort became a Royal Engineers depot. The fort saw new life in 1930 being rearmed with two replacement 6-inch guns to train the Gravesend Battery of the Territorial Army. Although no longer armed during World War Two the fort still played its part being used as a Naval Radio Monitoring Station, it’s magazines being requisitioned in 1941 by the Admiralty to be used as air raid shelters by the nearby shore establishment HMS Gordon.

Today the fort has been restored as a tourist attraction with its magazines that have been extensively refurbished and requipped open on summer weekends and surface areas being open all year round. It is the only completely armed two gun battery of its type in the UK and it’s array of guns and emplacements from a 200year period being unique.