Fort Bridgewood

The site of Fort Bridgewoods is on the outskirts of Rochester, Kent next to the Rochester-Maidstone road (B2091). The site was acquired by the War Office about 1860 to form part of a ring of forts protecting the Royal Dockyard at Chatham.

Building

It was envisaged that the line would stretch from the River Medway to the Thames but a shortage of money meant only five of the original large works plus two small experimental earthen redoubts were built. Work — using convict labour —— started 30 years later in 1890 and by that time, the enemy it was supposed to repulse, France was an ally and the enemy was Imperial Germany.

Because of budget restraints and changing fashions in fortifications, no fixed armament was mounted; instead earthen ramps were built to enable field artillery to fire from the fort’s parapet. The fort was of a radical departure from traditional design, of earth construction, with a deep dry moat and designed to blend in with the line of the land. Under the earthen walls were magazines and living quarters.

A new large prison was built on the hill above the nearby village of Borstal to house the workforce. It later became a prison for young offenders and gave its name to the Borstal Institution system of correction. Four of the forts (Luton, Horsted, Bridgewoods and Borstal) were linked by a railway — hauled by convicts — to move building materials between sites.

Building materials were brought by barge up the Medway to a quay at Borstal; they were landed, then hauled by a steam-powered ropeway up the steep scarp slope of the North Downs to Fort Borstal, where they were offloaded onto the railway. Some of the original railway lines can be seen in the cowshed floor of the prison farm, which in a previous incarnation was the railway workshop. The prisoners were accompanied on their labours by armed warders on horseback. The railway remained in use until about 1905.

World wars

After completion until the outbreak of the First World War Fort Bridgewoods was only sporadically garrisoned. In the early years of the 20th century the Royal Engineers deliberately mined and blew up one corner of the fort in field exercise. With repairs undertaken the fort slipped into obscurity until trials with gun laying radar were undertaken at the Fort in the late 1930s. With radar installed, Bridgewoods served as headquarters for anti-aircraft guns in the Thames Estuary with the two flanking forts of Horsted and Borstal being among the most up-to-date anti-aircraft batteries in Britain.

Nuclear age

With the development of the nuclear bomb, new protected headquarters were built at Bridgewoods in the early 1950s. Shortly after completion Anti Aircraft Command was disbanded and the site used for Civil Defence preparation and training. In 1960 the protected headquarters became the regional HQ for London (south) and remained in use until the early 1970s. In 1975 the site was sold to a property developer who quickly demolished the fort and bunker. The site remained empty for a number of years and is now a Parcelforce depot.