Palmerston Forts Society and Portsdown Artillery Volunteers

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Palmerston Forts Society and Portsdown Artillery Volunteers

This page is the main social media channel for the Palmerston Forts Society and its re-enactment arm, the Portsdown Artillery Volunteers.
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The Palmerston Forts Society was formed in 1984 and brings together enthusiasts who have an active interest in C19th British fortifications and associated artillery worldwide, but particularly the "Palmerston Forts" in the UK. In the mid-19th century, a series of invasion crises led to the largest British fortification programme during peacetime. This was driven primarily by the then Prime Ministe

r Lord Palmerston. The arms race that developed in the latter half of the Victorian era led to many more fortresses being built in Britain and her Empire, as well as by many other powers and nations around the world. The Palmerston Forts Society was formed in 1984 and brings together enthusiasts who have an active interest in nineteenth century military fortifications and associated artillery worldwide. The Society is based at Fort Nelson, Fareham, in one of the Great Portsdown Forts built during the 1860s to defend Portsmouth harbour and dockyard
The object of the society is the advancement of the education of the public in the history of Fort Nelson and other Victorian fortifications - in particular by supporting and assisting the improvement of the fortifications for the public benefit
This page is administered by the Palmerston Forts Society. We will post news about the society and its events and any material that we think is relevant to our aims and interesting to our followers. The society also administer (with a lighter touch) a Facebook Group which is an open forum for discussing the Victorian fortifications of Britain and forts in other nations from the same era. You will find it here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/324345431260563
We don’t have many rules about content of the Page and the Group but we will delete any posting or comment that we believe might offend our members and followers. We will also remove any content that describes or promotes unauthorised access to heritage sites. You are free to copy or share or otherwise disseminate any content from our page and Facebook Group but we would appreciate it if you follow the usual convention of giving a credit to its source. Palmerston Forts Society is a registered Charity, charity number 294293.

24/06/2026

Why is FORT BEMBRIDGE asymmetric ?

Victorian Forts are generally built very precisely without the errors of alignment often found in earlier buildings. Fort Bembridge was built between 1862 and 1867 to an elongated hexagon plan which, on first sight, looks to have at least two lines of symmetry. Closer scrutiny shows that it is not quite right with some of the alignments being about 2 degrees out of “square”.

Asymmetry is not unusual in forts and could be because of a number of reasons. It could be caused by tactical considerations such as fields of fire and local topography exterior to the fort. There could be geological considerations. The unexcepted alignment could be because the fort has been built on a site occupied by previous structures or if the design of the fort changed during or after construction.

There are other asymmetries in the fort. The batter angle is different on different faces of the scarp wall but that can presumably be explained by the intensity of incoming fire expected for different faces of the fort.

The Earl of Yarborough’s Monument was right in the middle of the site of the fort and this was relocated. There was also an important change in the design of the fort where a slightly cranked north west face and counterscarp galleries in the original plan were replaced by caponiers and counterscarp crochets. These changes don’t obviously explain the asymmetry. I don’t know of any geological peculiarities and a 2 degree realignment doesn’t seem to be consistent with that sort of problem anyway.

Any ideas?

Images: Ordnance Survey and Google Maps

22/06/2026

An Artificial Intelligence guide to Portsmouth

My online search algorithms are set up to alert me to anything new about Victorian forts. They do occasionally throw up some oddities. You might be amused by this one.

KUPI is an online travel agency that includes travel guides. It looks like the text of the travel guides is just trawled from the internet with no original content. When it comes to the photos, I guess they wanted to avoid paying for image rights so they just got the AI to make up something.

So here is a Kupi guide to Portsmouth. There is much, much more by the way, and it doesn’t get any better. I would post a link, but I don’t want to encourage them!

21/06/2026

A special day at the DOVER WESTERN HEIGHTS

I spent a few very enjoyable hours at the Drop Redoubt yesterday. The Napoleonic era reenactor kept up a good rate of flintlock fire and the WW1 German rifles were very loud indeed. Everyone was issued with ear protectors by the Western Heights Preservation Society who were there in good numbers.

It was good to see the results of ongoing restoration work at the Redoubt including some caponier flooring which had been completed only a few days before. The Grand Shaft was also open, but my legs weren’t up to that. The Open Weekend continues today and remember – Forts are Cool.

I didn’t take many photos – except of one interesting feature which I will post about in a few days – but I couldn’t resist giving credit to the great turnout of St. John’s Ambulance Cadets.

There are also special WWII themed events at Newhaven Fort and Nothe Fort today.

19/06/2026

Spreading the Word - in a Shed.

Last week, PFS member LS was very pleased to give a talk to over 30 members of the Gosport Shed. The Gosport Shed club has something like 200 members and provides space and facilities for members to relax, meet friends, undertake their hobbies, and join interest groups. The “Shedders” also undertake projects for the benefit of the local community.

The talk was about Fort Gilkicker and the documentation work done by the Palmerston Forts Society during the partial demolition and clearance phases of the project. There was a lot of interest from the audience and a good Q&A session followed the talk.

We sold quite a few of our PFS publications “British Fortifications” and “The Artillery Volunteers” and the members’ donation to the Palmerston Forts Society’s charitable aims is much appreciated.

If you have group that might be interested in a talk like this please get in touch with us at: [email protected]
We have a subjects related to the fortifications of Portsmouth and we can put you in touch with knowledgeable and enthusiastic speakers from other societies as well.

18/06/2026

Things to do at VICTORIAN FORTS

A big event this weekend is the Dover Western Heights Open Weekend, there will be lots going on there. Nothe Fort and Newhaven Fort are both having WWII themed events this weekend.

There is a car boot sale ay Heugh Battery and there is a Work Day at Shoreham Fort. The planned craft fair at Fort Paull is sadly cancelled but the fort will be open anyway.

The next guided tour around Coalhouse Fort will be on Wednesday morning and there is an evening tour of Crownhill Fort coming up.

Its nice to see people having a laugh and there are opportunities with stand-up comedy at Fort Cumberland and Fort Luton over the next weeks. Bembridge Fort have had comedy gigs recently but perhaps there will be less laughs at the Murder Mystery event at the end of the month.

Later in the month there are tours at Forts Widely and Purbrook and there is a big event at Fort Nelson on the first weekend in July (details to follow)

That is just a selection of what is on. You will find more in the Victorian Forts Events Calendar which is available in the “public” area of the Palmerston Forts Society website. Events are listed by date and also by location. This link should take you there:
https://www.palmerstonfortssociety.org.uk/meetings-and-events-palmerston-forts-society

If you know about events that have missed out please tell is in a posting here or an email to: [email protected]

For convenience, I have also posted the next couple of weeks events here. Remember that this calendar will get updated (and may have some errors in it) so please check with the location before you make any travel arrangements. Many of these events have to be pre-booked so check for that.

17/06/2026

A Palmerston Forts Society grant in action at STEYNWOOD HIGH ANGLE BATTERY.

Some months ago we awarded a PFS grant to Steynewood High Angle Battery for the acquisition of a heavy duty brush cutter. The battery, on the Isle of Wight, is within a private home but the owners are committed to looking after the battery and presenting it to the public through curated tours. Some areas of the fort have become heavily overgrown and we were glad to make this contribution towards enabling more of the site to be understandable to visitors.

We are looking for more good causes! The PFS has a budget for grants for restoration, interpretation and research activities, and we want to award more. PFS members and followers of this page can help by spreading the word. On your fort visits or via your contacts, remind people that these grants are available. Details of the grant schemes and how to apply can be found here on the public area of our website:
https://www.palmerstonfortssociety.org.uk/grants

You can find out about tours of the battery at Restore The Story CIC and in our Victorian Forts Events Calendar (on the PFS website)

Images from PFS members involved in the guided tours.

16/06/2026

An opportunity to visit FORT BORSTAL

Hidden History Tours UK have included Fort Borstal in Kent into their programme for the first time. The scope of the tour is described as being “ramparts and tunnels”. The Fort is privately owned and included within in a private residence. This is the first time that we have seen a tour offered and there are three two-hour tours offered on 29th August. It looks like the 1230 one has already been sold out so book very soon if you want to get in on one of the others. I'm sure that if demand is very high this opportunity will be repeated sometime.

Hidden History Tours UK are also offering another date for a visit to the D-Day tunnels under Fort Southwick on 11th July.

More details and booking information for these events can be found here:
https://hiddenhistorytours.uk/upcoming-tours-1

These events are also on our Victorian Forts Events Clanedar which you can find here:
https://www.palmerstonfortssociety.org.uk/meetings-and-events-palmerston-forts-society

15/06/2026

WEBINAR REMINDER - " Military and Civil Defences of the Wirral "

His Wednesday, webinar regular Roger Thomas will be telling us about the C19 and C20 defences of the Wirral peninsula. The 19th century Fort Perch Rock, which celebrates its 200th anniversary this year, will certainly feature in its various forms. Roger will also describe the other coastal batteries and the extensive anti-invasion and anti-aircraft defences created during the Second World War. Some of these anti-aircraft batteries had a Cold War life into the 1950s

The Fortress Study Group CIO, in cooperation with the Palmerston Forts Society, The Coast Defense Study Group and the Ordnance Society and, organises these webinars for their members. Palmerston Forts Society members receive login details via email, and recordings of selected past webinars are accessible in the members’ area of the PFS website.

Follow this link to find out how to join us for as little as £17 per year :
https://www.palmerstonfortssociety.org.uk/palmerston-forts-society-membership

Address

Fort Nelson Portsdown Hill Road

PO176AN

Website

https://www.palmerstonfortssociety.org.uk/contact-palmerston-forts-society

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