New Tavern Fort

New Tavern Fort stands on the south bank of the Thames at Gravesend in Kent. Built in the 18th and 19th centuries, it is one of the best-preserved artillery forts of its period in the country. The fort was first raised during the American War of Independence to block French and Spanish warships from reaching London. In the 19th century it was rebuilt to counter iron-clad French vessels. It stayed in military use until the Second World War, when it was briefly reactivated before becoming public gardens. The fort is notable for showing every stage of British coastal artillery from the 1780s to the 1940s. Its zig-zag earthen ramparts hold brick and concrete gun emplacements and magazines beneath. The northern face still carries two 6-inch breech-loading guns installed in 1904, the only surviving pair of this kind in the UK. The middle face has four 1870s rifled muzzle-loaders, one fitted with an iron shield that still looks as it did when first armed. The southern face once held traversing guns firing over the parapet. Inside the ramparts a grass parade ground is shaded by trees and flowerbeds, with a bandstand at its centre. The magazines are reached through a 180-metre brick tunnel that zig-zags under the rampart. Sixteen storage rooms line the tunnel, linked by lifts to the guns above. The magazines once held cartridges and shells for the fort’s guns, and safety rules were strict: workers wore special slippers and clothing to avoid sparks. Outside, the wide ditch is now planted with ornamental pools and paths and is kept as a nature area. The medieval Milton Chantry, the oldest building in Gravesend, once served as the fort’s barracks and still stands within the grounds.