Fort Gomer

Fort Gomer stood on the Gosport peninsula as the southernmost and first-built Polygonal fort in the defence line to the west of the town. It formed part of the ‘Sea Front and Spithead Defences’, a line of five forts later known as the Gomer-Elson Line. Construction began in 1853 and took five years, costing an estimated £92,000 by 1869. The fort followed the Prussian System of mutual defence, breaking away from older bastioned designs. A wet moat surrounded the fort, and the ground in front could be flooded to hinder attackers. The barrack block at the rear was shaped like a shallow V with two spiral staircases leading to the roof. The fort’s armament included heavy guns such as nine 68-pounder and five 10-inch pieces, along with mortars and smaller calibre weapons. By 1872, rifled muzzle-loaders replaced many smoothbore guns, and further changes followed in the 1880s and 1890s. The fort accommodated hundreds of soldiers, with space for officers, NCOs, and gunners, plus a hospital and kitchen. Training and barracks duties dominated its use through the Victorian era and both world wars. Visitors would have found a rectangular fort nearly 500 feet wide and 800 feet long, with a wet ditch and ramparts for flanking fire. The barrack block’s roof could have held guns but was never fully used for that purpose. Tunnels led from the parade through the ramparts to the ditch, providing defensive fire. After the Second World War, the fort housed armoured regiments before being sold and demolished in the 1960s. Today, nothing remains of the structure.