Landguard Fort
| Landguard Fort | |
|
Suffolk | |
|---|---|
 Landguard Fort from Landguard Point | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TM283319 |
| Location: | 51°56’20"N, 1°19’16"E |
| Village: | Felixstowe |
| History | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | English Heritage |
| Website: | Landguard Fort |
Landguard Fort, or 'Langer Fort' as it was originally locally known,[1] stands on Landguard Point, the southernmost point of Suffolk, just outside Felixstowe in that county, at the mouth of the River Orwell. It was designed to guard the entrance to Harwich, the major port standing on the opposite side of the estuary, in Essex. The first fortifications from 1540 were a few earthworks and blockhouse, but it was King James I who ordered the construction of a square fort with bulwarks at each corner.
In 1667 the Dutch landed a force of 2000 men on Felixstowe beach and advanced on the fort, but were repulsed by Nathaniel Darrell and his garrison of 400 musketeers of the Duke of York & Albany's Maritime Regiment (the first Marines force) and 100 artillerymen with 54 cannon.[2]
As a functional appurtenance to Harwich, in the 18th and the 19th century births and deaths within the garrison were recorded as 'Landguard Fort, Essex'.
A new Fort battery was built in 1717, and a complete new fort on an adjoining site was started in 1745 to a pentagonal bastioned trace. New batteries were built in the 1750s and 1780, but the biggest change was in the 1870s where the interior barracks were rebuilt to a keep-like design, the river frontage was rebuilt with a new casemated battery covered by a very unusual caponier with a quarter sphere bomb proof nose. Several open bastions were enclosed, and a mock ravelin block constructed to house a submarine mining contingent.
During the Second World War, Landguard Fort was used as one of the balloon launch sites of Operation Outward. This was a project to attack Germany by means of free-flying hydrogen balloons that carried incendiary devices or trailing steel wires (intended to damage power lines.) Between 1942 and 1944, many thousands of balloons were launched.
The 10inch gun pit in Left Battery was converted into an Anti-aircraft Operations Room for Harwich in 1939.
The fort today
The fort has been structurally consolidated and is open every day from April to the end of October. It is now in the guardianship of English Heritage.
The Ravelin block houses Felixstowe Museum, with 15 rooms of exhibits about the military and social history of the town.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Landguard Fort) |
- Landguard Fort - official site at English Heritage
- Felixstowe Museum
- Landguard Anti Aircraft Operations Room
- Landguard Fort
- Landguard Fort, photographs, July 2007
- Archeological field survey of fortifications: English Heritage
- Conservation and management of Landguard Fort and Batteries: English Heritage
- Landguard Bird Observatory
- National Heritage List 1030415: Landguard Fort
References
- The history of Landguard Fort in Suffolk by Major J. H. Leslie, Eyre & Spottiswoode (1898)