New Tavern Fort and Fort Gardens

New Tavern Fort and Fort Gardens

New Tavern Fort and Fort Gardens
Commercial Place
Gravesend
Kent
DA12 2BH

Tel: 01474 337 600
E-Mail: info@towncentric.co.uk

Web: New Tavern Fort and Fort Gardens

About New Tavern Fort and Fort Gardens

The New Tavern Fort is the remains of an 18th century fort situated within the Fort Gardens and built in the 1780s to defend the Thames against the threat of a naval attack from France and extensively rebuilt by General Gordon between 1865 and 1879.

The Fort was re-armed in 1904 and guns representing that period of development are now on display. Come along and venture into the mysterious underground world of the Victorian artilleryman and see the magazines and full size reconstructions of scenes from Gravesend during the Second World War.

Fort Gardens
The Fort Gardens were originally part of the garden to Fort House, General Gordon's residence in Gravesend (1865-71) and which he subsequently donated to the people of the town.

History
Bristling with heavy guns, New Tavern Fort is located on the south bank of the River Thames in the Fort Gardens at Gravesend. It is a reminder in brick, earth, concrete and steel of an age in which Britain and the states of Europe settled their disagreements with each other by force of arms. For Britain, the risk of raiding or invasion during a period of war lead to a need to provide ports, coasts and strategic rivers with land-based defences as a second line behind the Navy. Foremost among the rivers for protection was the Thames.

As the maritime route to London, in which the political and economic life of the country was centred, the security of the Thames involved vital national interests. By the 1530s around 80% of English exports passed along the river. As well as commercial interests there were the important royal dockyards at Deptford and Woolwich to defend. The arsenal at Woolwich became the central store for England. By the 19th century London and the Thames had evolved into the hub of a burgeoning worldwide empire.

Defence of the Thames in time of war was, therefore, bound up with the security of the nation. The banks of the narrowing stretch of water known as Gravesend Reach became important for the siting of defences to oppose the way upstream to an enemy fleet. Artillery forts were first established here in 1539/40 under Henry V111’s national scheme of defence against a feared continental invasion. These were improved and supplemented by other works during the following centuries.

It was not until the 1780s that New Tavern Fort was added to this network of defences. The Fort was retained as an active element of these defences until the early years of the 20th century. Its several stages of rebuilding and rearming allow us to trace the evolution of the defensive systems in response to international tensions and the developments in the technology of war over a period of 150 years.