Fort Hubberstone | |
---|---|
Milford Haven Wales | |
Coordinates | Coordinates: 51°42′30″N5°03′17″W / 51.70833°N 5.05472°W |
Site information | |
Owner | Private |
Open to the public | No |
Site history | |
Built | 1860-63 |
In use | Derelict |
Materials | Stone |
Fort Hubberstone, on the west side of Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, is a Grade II* Listed Building [1] which belongs to a series of forts built as part of the inner line of defence of the Haven following the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom. Together with Popton Fort on the opposite shore, it provided an interlocking field of fire, and represented the last layer of defence before reaching the Royal Naval dockyard at Pembroke Dock. Construction began in 1860 and was completed in 1863 at a cost of £55,000. [2] It is a large battery, with eleven guns in casemates, eight in an open battery above, with another nine in an open flank battery, and a large barracks to the rear. It is a D-shaped structure, with a bomb-proof roof which protected the barracks and other buildings from mortar projectiles. On its landward side, it was protected by a deep ditch, and on the seaward side by a counter-scarp gallery. The associated casemate battery is located further down the headland and separated from the fort. [3]
The barracks had capacity for 250 men, sourced from the Royal Pembrokeshire Artillery and the 24th Regiment of Foot. Recruitment however was frequently constrained by the isolation of the fort, lacking the appeal of more urban stations. The fort was often required to fire live practice rounds, and in 1894 participated in experiments to illuminate targets with searchlights so they could be engaged at night. Notoriously, in 1875 Lieutenant Walter of the militia was murdered by a Doctor Alder in a drunken brawl. [2]
The fort was abandoned after World War I as a consequence of the Haldane Reforms. A 1919 proposal to convert the structure into social housing came to nothing. [2] World War II saw the fort once again in active use, when it was used as an air raid shelter and army camp for American military personnel. [4]
On a good site, the fort has fallen into disrepair. Under the ownership of Milford Haven Port Authority, there were various unsuccessful plans to restore the structure. The site is not currently open to the public, and has been the scene of non-fatal injuries to trespassers. [5] [6] In 2011 it was named as the fifth most endangered archaeological site in the UK by British Archaeology, [7] [8] which prompted a campaign to seek a long-term sustainable use of the site. [9] [10] In 2019, plans were announced to convert the site into a military-based residential camp for former service men and women. These plans were subsequently dropped due to a media scandal involving Camp Valour. [11]
In September 2020, the site was purchased by Guy Anderson, a private investor and local councillor, who announced it would be open it to the public as a ‘living ruin’. [12]
In 2021 it featured on the BBC television programme Hidden Wales: Last Chance to Save..
Milford Haven is both a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has been used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was founded in 1790 by Sir William Hamilton, who designed a grid pattern. It was originally intended to be a whaling centre, though by 1800 it was developing as a Royal Navy dockyard which it remained until the dockyard was transferred to Pembroke in 1814. It then became a commercial dock, with the focus moving in the 1960s, after the construction of an oil refinery built by Esso, to logistics for fuel oil and liquid gas. By 2010, the town's port had become the fourth largest in the United Kingdom in terms of tonnage, and continues its important role in the United Kingdom's energy sector with several oil refineries and one of the biggest LNG terminals in the world.
Pembroke Dock is a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales, 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Pembroke on the banks of the River Cleddau. Originally Paterchurch, a small fishing village, Pembroke Dock town expanded rapidly following the construction of the Royal Navy Dockyard in 1814. The Cleddau Bridge links Pembroke Dock with Neyland.
Fort Amherst, in Medway, South East England, was constructed in 1756 at the southern end of the Brompton lines of defence to protect the southeastern approaches to Chatham Dockyard and the River Medway against a French invasion. Fort Amherst is now open as a visitor attraction throughout the year with tours provided through the tunnel complex
Dale Fort is a mid-19th-century coastal artillery fort at Dale Head, a rocky promontory near Dale, Pembrokeshire, west of Milford Haven in Wales. It is one of the centres run by Field Studies Council and offers residential and non-residential fieldwork for schools, colleges and universities, holiday accommodation and professional and leisure courses in natural history and arts.
Milford Haven Waterway is a natural harbour in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is a ria or drowned valley which was flooded at the end of the last ice age. The Daugleddau estuary winds west to the sea. As one of the deepest natural harbours in the world, it is a busy shipping channel, trafficked by ferries from Pembroke Dock to Ireland, oil tankers and pleasure craft. Admiral Horatio Nelson, visiting the haven with the Hamiltons, described it as the next best natural harbour to Trincomalee in Ceylon and "the finest port in Christendom". Much of the coastline of the Waterway is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, listed as Milford Haven Waterway SSSI.
Popton Fort, a Grade II* Listed Building, is a Palmerston fort completed in 1864 as part of the inner line of defence of Milford Haven together with Fort Hubberstone on the opposite bank.
Thorne Island is a rocky islet and part of the community of Angle, Pembrokeshire, Wales, with an area of 2 acres (8,100 m2), dominated by a coastal artillery fort built to defend the Milford Haven Waterway in the mid-19th century. It has been the site of a number of shipwrecks, including one in 1894 that was carrying a cargo of Scotch whisky.
Milford Haven School is an English medium comprehensive co-educational school of 1061 students, in Milford Haven, Wales.
Havens Head Retail Park is a retail park located in Milford Haven, Wales.
Hakin is a coastal village in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It belongs to the parish of Hubberston in the historical hundred of Roose. It is located directly to the west of the larger town of Milford Haven, and is a district of the community of Milford Haven It had a population of 2,313 inhabitants in 2001.
Hubberston is a coastal village in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It belongs to the parish of Hubberston in the historical hundred of Roose. It is located directly to the west of the larger town of Milford Haven, and is a district of the community of Milford Haven. It is adjacent to the village of Hakin. It had a population of 2,390 inhabitants in 2001. It is mainly residential in nature.
The town of Milford Haven was founded in 1793 by Sir William Hamilton, who initially invited Quaker whalers from Nantucket to live in his town, and then, in 1797, the Navy Board to create a dockyard for building warships.
Scoveston Fort, on the northern shore of Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales, U.K., is a Grade II Listed Building which belongs to a series of forts built as part of the inner line of defence of the Haven following the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom. Built on high ground to the north east of the town of Milford Haven, it commands excellent views of the surrounding countryside, and was the only fort around the Haven to be built inland.
St Catherine's Fort is a 19th-century Palmerston Fort on St Catherine's Island, at Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Milford Haven Museum is a maritime and heritage museum in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire. Opened in 1991, it has a heavy focus on the maritime history of the town, with exhibitions which explore the fishing and oil industries in the area. The collection also contains information relating to the railway industry in the area, Milford at war, the shipbuilding industry and the Liquefied Natural Gas process. Summer 2013 saw the arrival of a rare Bronze Age wooden trough, discovered locally at St Botolphs in 2006.
South Hook Fort, on the northern shore of Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, is a Grade II*-listed building which belongs to a series of forts built as part of the inner line of defence of the Haven following the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom.
Chapel Bay Fort is located on the southern shore of the Milford Haven Waterway, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The fort is approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) from the village of Angle. One of a series of forts built as part of the inner line of defence of the Haven following the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, it is a Grade II Listed Building. and is also known as "Chapel Bay Battery".
The East and West Blockhouses were Device Forts built by King Henry VIII in 1539 to protect the harbour of Milford Haven in Wales. The two blockhouses were positioned on either side of the Milford Haven Waterway in the villages of Angle and Dale respectively, overlooking the sea. The East Blockhouse was never completed, but the remains were reused as a defensive site in the Second World War. The West Blockhouse was described by contemporaries as forming a round tower with gunports, but it was demolished when West Blockhouse Fort was built on the same site in the 19th century.
Point Battery is a former gun emplacement on Portsmouth Point in Hampshire. Part of the fortifications of Portsmouth, it was built alongside an earlier defensive structure to help defend Portsmouth Harbour in the event of an attack. Fort Blockhouse on the other side of the harbour entrance was rebuilt at around the same time as part of the same scheme. In the mid-19th century the battery was enlarged and Point Barracks were built alongside, to house the artillery troops responsible for manning the defences.
West Blockhouse Fort is a mid-19th century coastal artillery fort at West Blockhouse Point, a rocky headland near Dale, Pembrokeshire, to the west of Milford Haven in Wales.
Guy A