A few weeks ago, I went away to Allhallows in Kent. We stayed at the local Haven park for a couple of nights and it was nice to just get some time away and relax. However, there is only so much relaxing you can do so we decided to check out a few of the things to do around the area. By the shop on site was a gate that said Slough Fort which intrigued us so we had a search online and found out they were doing walking tours and thought we’d give it a go. Here’s what we got up to on our visit.
Slough Fort at Allhallows was built as part of a response to France building a new fleet of modern steam and sail ironclads with new rifled guns. The British responded with a ‘crash’ naval building programme to outbuild the French and to start a national scheme to upgrade the coastal defences.
It is a small artillery fort that was built at Allhallows-on-Sea, constructed in 1967. It was intended to guard a vulnerable stretch of the River Thames against possible enemy landings. All guns were removed by 1912 however the fort was used in the First World War as a command post. It was then decommissioned in 1920 and sold off in 1929. From the 1960’s it was used as a stables adjoining a holiday camp before a partial restoration was funded in 2012/13 that uncovered some of the fort’s features. Today they are working to preserve the site and visitors can now visit and find out more about the site.
I didn’t get to take many photos as I was busy listening to the tour guide tell us the story of the fort and how it came to be. The tours are all run by volunteers who all give their time to help preserve the site and raise money through the tours and sales of the gift shop merchandise. As you can see, the fort looks over the estuary and Southend can be seen the other side of it. The fort was there to help protect Southend from any potential enemy attacks.
I am a little gutted Jack wasn’t with me as I think he would have really enjoyed the tour. We got to see where the soldiers would have stayed, some with their families, and got to see such sights as the photo above. It was really interesting and I really enjoyed finding out more about our heritage and history. It was incredible to see how innovative we could be at a time with little to no technology and how we hoped to protect our land and our country. I hope the Slough Fort preservation trust manage to do with it what they are hoping to as this will be great for the site and the area.
If I am ever in the area again, I will definitely visit with the kids as I think learning about our history is so important. Have you ever visited Slough Fort?
If you enjoyed this, you will love this post of toddler friendly British summer attractions.
I have never heard of Slough Fort before, when I saw the heading I thought it was a fort in Slough a totally different area. It sounds a great place to visit
I think my son would really enjoy visiting the fort. He would find it really interesting.
It is always a nice idea to visit places that have so much history. I also hope that this place would be preserved for more people to visit and appreciate.
I have never actually heard of it before but isn’t it lovely to have a nice little getaway . Bet it was well needed
This looks like such an interesting place to go and visit. I love visiting historical locations and getting to find out more about our history.
What an interesting, historical place! We will need to write this one down, as our 11 year old would love to explore!