Fort Clarence facts for kids
Fort Clarence is an old fort in Rochester, Kent, England. It was built a long time ago to protect the area. Today, it's no longer used as a fort. In fact, some parts of it have even been turned into homes!
Contents
The Story of Fort Clarence
Why Was It Built?
Fort Clarence was built between 1808 and 1812. Its main job was to stop enemies from reaching the River Medway from Maidstone Road. Imagine a long, dry ditch made of brick. This ditch ran from a strong guardroom on one road all the way to a similar tower near the river.
What Did It Look Like?
The most important part of the fort that still stands is a huge red brick building. It looks a bit like a medieval castle! This building was used as a gun tower and a place to watch for enemies. It had openings called embrasures. These allowed soldiers to fire guns across the ditch.
The dry ditch crossed a street called St Margaret's Street. To get across, you had to use a drawbridge. This bridge went through a large guardhouse shaped like an arch. Sadly, this arch was taken down in the 1930s. From the main tower, there were secret tunnels. These tunnels led to the smaller guardhouses outside the fort. Behind the dry ditch, near Maidstone Road, were buildings for soldiers to live in, called barracks.
What Was It Used For?
After 1815, Fort Clarence was used for many different things. It was a military prison for a while. It also served as a hospital for people with mental health issues. When another nearby fort, Fort Pitt, became a military hospital, the patients from Fort Clarence moved there. But the prison stayed.
During the First World War, the fort was used by the artillery (soldiers who use big guns) as a place to sign up new recruits. After that war, a new training center was built next to the fort. The old barracks were used less and less.
In the Second World War, the Home Guard used Fort Clarence as their main office. With fears of an invasion, the fort was put back into service to help protect the area.
What Happened Next?
After the Second World War, the fort became empty and run-down. Then, in the mid-1960s, the GPO (which is now British Telecom) moved in. They tore down all the old barracks. They also filled in a big part of the moat (the ditch) and took down the guardhouse on Maidstone Road.
Fort Clarence Today
Today, the most important parts that are left are the brick gun tower and a section of the ditch. This section runs from St Margaret's Street into the public gardens nearby. These gardens were given to the city of Rochester by a former mayor, Charles Willis. He gave them in memory of his son, who died in the First World War.
Below the gardens, there's a hidden exit called a sally port. Its door is now sealed up. This exit connected to a tunnel that led to the gun tower. It probably also led to the Medway tower, which is now gone. If enemies tried to get into the tunnels, they would have been met with fire from small openings called loopholes in the tunnel walls.
In the late 1990s, the tower was sold to private builders. It has now been turned into apartments. From the outside, the tower looks like new. But there's a modern structure added on the roof. On both sides, the lowest gun openings (embrasure) seem to be below ground. This means the ditch was much deeper and more impressive when the fort was first built. On the east side, the top of the hill has been flattened for houses. This makes it harder to see how important the fort's location once was.
Fort Clarence is a very important historical site. It is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Images for kids
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The archway by the fort's drawbridge was demolished in the 1930s. The fort, on the left, is now converted into flats.
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Fort Clarence today
