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| Fort Widley |
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| Brief Description: Fort Widley on Portsdown Hill showing fort, gun emplacement and road, 1973. |
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| Subject Date: August 1983 |
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| Creator: Derek Dine, Hampshire County Library |
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| Owner: Hampshire Library and Information Service |
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| Contributor: Hampshire Library and Information Service |
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| Full Description: Fort Widley is one of the forts commissioned by Prime Minister Lord Henry Palmerston and known as the Palmerston follies, built on Portsdown Hill to defend Portsmouth from invasion by the French by land. It has a low profile and is disguised by earth and grass banks. The five forts, with two supporting batteries, were built between 1861 and 1874.
Work began on the defences during the 1860's after the War Department purchased land on Portsdown Hill. The Royal Engineers were responsible for the basic design of the hill forts with Colonel Sir W R Drummond Jervois in charge. The design was that they should be surrounded by a deep ditch on the west, north and east sides. Access is gained from ramps down to the bottom of the ditches from the fort entrances on the south side at the back of the fort. There was also a dry moat with varied depth from 40-60 feet and width from 30-70 feet around the five forts.
The escarp is about 10-15 feet thick backed by earthwork and surmounted by a rampart. The platforms on the inner side of the rampart were for additional guns firing over the parapet. The fort had 21 guns and had a complement of about 220 men. South side, two storey accommodation was living quarters for about 250 men, there was also married quarters for twelve soldiers.
Either side of the barrack block was single storey rooms and a stable. The southern face was protected by these gorge buildings and the entrance from direct manual attack. The walls had loopholes for rifle fire. Underground tunnels went from the barrack block to the carponiers in the moat. The Barrack block walls were 4-5 feet thick with a reinforced concrete roof.
Fort Widley was completed in 1871. When the military road that ran along the crest of the hill was built, passing behind the forts on the south side, this then enabled good communication between them.
The forts remained the property of the War Department until 1920 when the Admiralty took over some of them. All Portsdown forts played a role in WW2. From 1940 Fort Widley served as a Fire Action Post. From 1941 it housed a Royal Engineer Bomb Disposal Unit. From 1942 it was used briefly to house prisoners of war., and from 1943 it was used as an alternative control centre for Southwick House. In 1953 the Civil Defence had the lease on part of the fort, which served as county emergency planning and civil defence standby headquarters. It is now a museum and is open weekends April - September.
Reference:
1. Evans, Linda. Palmerston Fort Society. Palmerston's Folly. www.hgs-online.org.uk |
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| Place: Portsmouth, Portsmouth City, Hampshire |
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| Subject: building, fort, Fort Widley, barrack, stable, tunnel, gun, ditch, moat, ramp, carponier, escarp, rampart, parapet, earthwork, hill, Portsdown Hill, military, soldier, Royal Engineers, bomb |
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| Name Subject: Lord Henry Palmerston, Sir W R Drummond Jervois, Royal Engineers, War Department, Admiralty |
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| Content Type: Photograph |
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| Location: Fareham Library |
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| Local Ref: 11/5/1 |
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| Unique ID: hs-hl-hs2490-i-00-000.jpg |
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| IPR: Hampshire Library and Information Service - Hampshire County Council |
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