Fort Darnet is a nineteenth-century military installation on the River Medway in Kent, England, that formed part of the defences of Chatham Naval Dockyard. Fort Darnet, like its twin Hoo Fort upstream, was built on the recommendations of the 1859 Royal Commission on an island covering Pinup Reach, the inner navigable channel of the River Medway.
The installation was built between 1870 and 1872. The two forts were originally designed with each having two tiers of guns mounted in a circle, with a boom strung between the forts, but there were many problems with subsidence. After extensive cost overruns they were completed in 1872 with one tier of eleven guns: a mixture of eight 9-inch and three 7-inch rifled muzzle-loaders. The boom was not implemented, though there were plans to mine the channel if thought needed.
It is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
- References
Bibliography
- Crowdy, R, Medway's Island Forts (1979)
- Gulvin, K R, The Medway Forts (1976), 18-19
- Smith, V T C, Strategic Study of Kent's Defences - Fort Darnet (1999)
External links
- Palmerston Forts Society