Freshwater Redoubt

Freshwater Redoubt
Hampshire
Fort Redoubt on the cliff of Freshwater Bay
Type:	Palmerston fort
Location
Grid reference:	SZ345856
Location:	50°40’10"N, 1°30’45"W
Village:	Freshwater Bay
History
	Built 1855-1856
Information
Condition:	concerted to a private residence
Owned by:	Private residence

Freshwater Redoubt, also known as Fort Redoubt, is an old Palmerston fort built in Freshwater Bay on the western end of the Isle of Wight, Hampshire’s great south island. Construction work for the fort began in 1855 and was completed in 1856. It was finally sold in 1928 and has now been converted into a private residence.

The building is a Grade II Listed Building.

Army use

Freshwater Redoubt is a Palmerston fort, completed in 1856 to defend Freshwater Bay, which was a possible landing beach for enemy troops. The deep, dry ditch protects the landward approaches.

The Caponier building in the ditch served as barrack accommodation for 24 men. With its iron window-shutters and rifle slots the Caponier also provided a means of ditch defence. The original bridge had a section, which could be withdrawn, near the entrance gate, for defence purposes. The main building, visible through the gate, was originally a single storey, flat-roofed barrack comprising 3 Officers’ Rooms, an Officers’ Kitchen, Staff Sergeant's Quarters, and 2 rooms for 5 and 11 men.

The fort was designed with 2 batteries for a total of 7 guns. The Upper Battery, facing the sea, had four gun emplacements and a separate Lower Battery with three gun emplacements covered Freshwater Bay. Early muzzle-loading guns, using gunpowder and firing cannonballs, were replaced over the years by rifled, breech-loading guns firing shells as military technology advanced.

Location

The fort is on the western headland of Freshwater Bay at the foot of Tennyson Down. It enjoys outstanding views of Freshwater Bay to the east and the English Channel to the south and west, with the Solent visible to the North across Freshwater and Yarmouth. The view from the top of the drive is of the Isle of Wight coast running along Compton Bay, with Brighstone Down beyond and continues past Atherfield Point, Chale and Blackgang, towards St Catherine's Point, with St. Boniface Down in the distance. The small tower visible on the rocks off Hanover Point is an artillery range marker built by the Army. The guns would always fire to seaward of this point.

J. Meade Falkner wrote his novel ‘’Moonfleet’’ while staying at Fort Redoubt.

Recent history

The fort is known locally as Fort Redoubt. It was sold by the Army in 1928 and is privately owned. The main building was converted into a two-storey private residence in 1936, and further extended in 1976 but not finished. During the 1980s and 1990s it operated as a tea room. The current owners have completed their own accommodation in the main building and carried out landscaping improvements in the grounds to recover the original setting of the property. The bridge over the moat was replaced in 2011 and, like the original bridge, affords a view of the Caponier along the moat.

The restoration of the Caponier was completed in 2020, and is now 2 holiday lets

A cottage in the grounds was originally married quarters accommodation for the master gunner and is now a holiday cottage called ‘Moonfleet’ after the novel.

Pictures

• 
  Courtyard January 2013
• 
  Deralict Caponier 2008
• 
  Aerial Photo of Freshwater Redoubt Feb 2018
• 
  Scaffold bridge to facilitate caponier
• 
• 
  The Renovated Caponier
• 
  Plan of Freshwater Redoubt

Outside links

• Victorian Forts data sheet: Fort Redoubt
• Moonfleet cottage Holiday Let
• Fort Redoubt - Upper Caponier Holiday Let
• Fort Redoubt - Lower Caponier Holiday Let

References

• Cantwell, Anthony (1986). The Needles Defences. Isle of Wight: Solent Papers. ISBN 1870113012.