From Important Fortification To A Wedding Venue, How Times Change!

It is surprising how easily we get used to seeing reminders of our turbulent past and because we pass them every day on our way to work or visit relatives, we think so little of them. There can be very few British towns and cities that do not have a reminder of a once impregnable castle within their boundaries,  its current state of repair depending on the amount of “treatment” that it had during its lifetime.

The nature of the historic remains will also depend on the threat that was perceived at the time.  Iron age hill forts are these days often reduced to large mounds in the middle of nowhere. The magnificent Hadrian's Wall was the Roman answer to the threat from north of the border and Edward I's chain of wonderful Welsh castles are a stark reminder of his battles with the Welsh princes.

Spithead Fort - modern use for an old fortification

In later years, with internal divisions relatively settled, the problems came more from abroad, and fortifications shifted to the coast, with castles such as Pendennis and St. Mawes in Cornwall being part of a chain  constructed by Henry VIII from Milford Haven to Hull to counter possible problems from the French and the Spanish. As a side issue, I always think it slightly incongruous that having built places like Pendennis to guard against external invasion, that we should then proceed to knock six bells out of it in the English Civil War.

Moving further around the coastline from Cornwall in an easterly direction, we come to the part of the English coast that became increasingly important, namely the Southampton and Portsmouth area and particular the Solent, that divides the Isle of Wight from the mainland.

Here Henry VIII built Hurst Castle, another of his Device Forts as they came to be called, and as we moved into Napoleonic times and beyond where invasion by the French was always on people's minds, the security of this vital area remained a high priority.

It was here, in the mid nineteen century that perhaps the most interesting and high profile fortifications were constructed, namely the four island forts built in the middle of the Solent itself. They are called Spithead Fort, St. Helens Fort,  Horse Sand Fort and No Mans Land Fort, together known as the Palmerston Forts. It is easy to chuckle at the fact that these impressive structures would be of no use whatsoever in modern warfare, but at a time when British sea power was becoming increasingly dominant, it was an essential part of the security of the Dockyards at Portsmouth. As a rough time guide, Spithead Fort was commenced in 1861 and completed in 1878, and by then the dynamics of world power had altered considerably.

It is not surprising to learn that none of the forts were ever attacked, although they were provided with substantial armament and even searchlights.  They were kept at a state of readiness during the Second World War, but the official end came in 1956 when the Coastal Defence Programme was disbanded.

The forts were placed on the open market for sale in the 1960's but not sold until the 1980's. Horse Sand Fort was retained by the Ministry of Defence, while of the other three, only Spithead is open to the public,  now having been converted to a luxury hotel and events venue. When it was constructed in the mid nineteenth century, it is highly unlikely that it would have crossed the mind of the government of the time that Spithead would end its days as a wedding venue!

The company that bought Spithead now also owns No Man's Land and Horse Sand, while St. Helen's Fort is in private hands.