East Tilbury - Coalhouse Fort

Coalhouse Fort is a fine example of a Victorian fort built in 1861-74 to protect the Thames and London from invasion. The building work was overseen by Charles George Gordon C.B., Royal Engineers, appointed to conduct improvements to the Thames defences, who later became famous as Lt. General Gordon of Khartoum, killed while defending Khartoum in 1885.

During world war 2 it was used as a degaussing station, mainly staffed by Wrens. It was known to the Royal Navy as HMS St Clement.

More information can be found on the Coalhouse Fort website :

www.coalhousefort.freeserve.co.uk

The fort was featured on a BBC TV series about historic monuments "at risk" in August 2003. For more information click here.