Shoreham Fort

Shoreham Fort stands at the entrance to Shoreham harbour where the River Adur meets the sea in West Sussex. Built in the 1850s during a time of political tension, the fort was completed in 1857 at a cost of £11,685. Its design resembles that of Littlehampton Fort, constructed just three years earlier. The fort’s gun platform rises 15 feet above sea level in the shape of a crescent. A deep ditch surrounds the platform, with a central Carnot wall and three caponiers at the angles of the walls. The caponiers allowed riflemen to fire along the ditch while the central one connected to the fort by a tunnel. The fort once held six 68-pounder guns on moving platforms and was garrisoned by the 1st Sussex Artillery Volunteers. In 1865 the volunteer unit won a prize for accurate shooting. By the 1870s the original guns were obsolete and the fort’s land-facing side was considered weak. Still, it later received updated armaments including two 80-pounders and three 64-pounders. In 1914 the fort served as an open-air film studio, producing four silent films that year. Today the restored gun platform, ditch and caponiers can be seen along with traces of the barrack block and parade ground. A World War II aiming light station now operates as a coastwatch post. A First World War Nissen hut, moved from near Chichester, serves as an education centre. A memorial training trench built in 2020 honours local soldiers who trained there before going to France. Volunteers continue to restore the site, aiming to rebuild the barrack block and create a community museum.