Fort Rowner

Fort Rowner stands on the Gosport peninsula in southern Hampshire. Built in the 1850s as part of a line of forts designed to protect Portsmouth, it formed a straight defensive front with Fort Brockhurst and Fort Grange. William Crossman drew up the plans, aiming to block landings along the south coast. The fort’s central keep was meant to shelter survivors if the outer defences fell. Construction ran into trouble early on, with arches cracking and the contractor dismissed in 1862. The fort was meant to carry fifty-three heavy guns, including 8-inch smooth-bores and 13-inch mortars, arranged across faces, flanks and galleries. By 1886 it mounted thirteen 8-inch guns alongside newer rifles. For decades it housed Royal Garrison Artillery companies and later became a barracks for regiments bound for overseas postings. In the Second World War the site joined HMS Siskin, later HMS Sultan, and briefly housed the Naval Air Medical School. Today the keep is roofless and crumbling, but its water-filled moat is kept stocked with coarse fish. Anglers from the Portsmouth RN & RM Coarse Angling association fish the moat regularly. The ramparts have been cleared of overgrowth, revealing the fort’s original layout. The brickwork still shows the scars of hasty repairs from the 1860s. Visitors can walk the grassed ramparts and look down into the moat where carp and bream gather.