Cumberland Fort (Portsmouth) | monument, ancient, fortification, artillery

United Kingdom / England / Portsmouth
 monument, ancient, fortification, artillery
Fort Cumberland, which preceded the Palmerston Forts by 150 years, was built in 1746 using convict labor. It was altered and rebuilt between 1785 and 1810, and has been described as one of the best examples of 18th century defensive architecture left in Britain. The present fort was completed in 1812 and it retained only two buildings from the original fort. The only major alterations to the central south and left bastions were made in the 1890s to accommodate larger guns. The fort suffered bomb damage during the Second World War.
The Fort occupies 11 acres and forms part of a larger area of Scheduled Ancient Monument adjoining the Fraser Gunnery Range at the western entrance of Langstone Harbour. It is in the guardianship of English Heritage, having been transferred from the Ministry of Defence, whose Royal Marine Artillery, who had occupied it fron 1823 to 1971.
Since then it has remained mainly vacant and unused.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Cumberland_(England)
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   50°47'20"N   1°1'59"W

Comments

  • From 1975 until the present day Fort Cumberland has served as the field operations centre of the Government's archaeology section in various forms. Initially the Central Excavation Unit established offices and research facilities within the fort in the 1970's as part of the Department of the Environment, this unit transformed into the Central Archaeology Service with the formation of English Heritage.
This article was last modified 17 years ago