Shorncliffe Redoubt is a British

Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

earthwork fort. The site is approximately 300 feet by 300 feet and is situated on the Kentish Coast in

Sandgate, Kent Sandgate is a village in the Folkestone and Hythe Urban Area in the Folkestone and Hythe district of Kent, England. It had a population of 4,225 at the 2001 census. In 1793, the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

reached its climax when the Revolutionary Government issued orders to execute

King Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...

and Marie Antoinette. Two weeks later, on 1 February, the French republic declared war on Great Britain, which then braced itself for invasion. At that time British land-based defences were woefully inadequate as Great Britain had always relied on the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

for its defence. To prepare for invasion in 1794 British Parliament purchased a large piece of land at Shorncliffe, the obvious place for initial fortifications to be built as it was just 20 miles away from the French coast, so close, in fact, that the locals could see the smoke from the camp fires of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's waiting army.Time Team Shorncliffe Redoubt, Sandgate, Kent
/ref> Later further defences were added to the Kent Coast including the 28-mile-long

Royal Military Canal The Royal Military Canal is a canal running for between Seabrook near Folkestone and Cliff End near Hastings, following the old cliff line bordering Romney Marsh, which was constructed as a defence against the Napoleon's planned invasion of t ...

, started in October 1804 and finished in June 1805, which stretches from Cliffend to Seabrook. Also

Martello Towers Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand up ...

were built between 1805 and 1808 to bolster the defences.Martello Towers
Colonel

William Twiss General William Twiss, (1745 – 14 March 1827), was a British Army Royal Engineer, responsible for the design of many military defences. Probably born in Kent in 1744 or 1745, Twiss worked in the ordnance office at the Tower of London from ...

, a military engineer, designed the redoubt. Once built, the site became home to the

43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot The 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) to form the 1st and 2nd battalions of th ...

52nd (Oxfordshire) Light Infantry Regiment 52 may refer to: * 52 (number) * one of the years 52 BC, AD 52, 1952, 2052 * 52-hertz whale The 52-hertz whale, colloquially referred to as 52 Blue, is an individual whale of unidentified species that calls at the unusual frequency of 52 h ...

, the

95th Rifles The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They were soon renamed the "Rifle ...

, and the light infantry brigades who Sir John Moore trained when he was stationed there in 1802.

Construction

There have been many different maps of the Redoubt through the ages as the site was reshaped and redesigned for different functions and changing military tactics. The one aspect that has always remained the same is the earthwork outer walls. The only slight change made to these was on the seaward side during the Victorian era where the wall was lowered so that the Commandant and his wife could look out to sea. The method of construction of the earthwork walls was totally different from that of earlier earthworks. In earlier walls, the earth was merely dug out and piled so that the wall would be formed (Figure 1). This would lead to the

topsoil Topsoil is the upper layer of soil. It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs. Description Topsoil is composed of mineral particles and organic matt ...

being at the bottom and the stonier substrate being at the top. This method of construction was optimal before the widespread use of

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

. The design of the Shorncliffe walls was different, and showed careful forethought and engineering (Figure 2). The turf was lifted and put to one side, followed by the topsoil. The stony substrate was then used to create the core of the wall, and a layer of top soil was placed over it and compacted. Then a further layer of stony substrate was added with another layer of top soil to cover it. It is surmised that the turfs were then placed at the bottom of the mound to create extra stability and to promote growth of the grass for protection from the weather. This method of construction leads to a wall with strong foundations better able to withstand cannon fire than previous earthworks. The defensive

ditches A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...

dug around the Redoubt were about 5 metres deep. With the earthen ramparts beyond, the Redoubt was well defended. Some maps show heavily fortified

magazines A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...

, but archaeological digs have failed to find them. It turns out that the maps were more guidelines for the construction of a much larger star fort which was never built due to the change of infantry tactics brought forward by Colonel Coote Manningham and Sir John Moore. View of Shorncliffe Today

Shorncliffe Army Camp Shorncliffe Army Camp is a large military camp near Cheriton in Kent. Established in 1794, it later served as a staging post for troops destined for the Western Front during the First World War. History The camp was established in 1794 when t ...

remains nearby and is still in use. The Redoubt itself has fallen into a state of disrepair.

In popular culture

* Al Johnson made a recording of The Shorncliffe Camp Song which was originally sung by the recruits at Shorncliffe during World War I. It was called Down in Shorncliffe Camp and sung to the tune of "Back Home in Tennessee" written by W.M. Jerome &

Walter Donaldson Walter Donaldson (February 15, 1893 – July 15, 1947) was an American prolific popular songwriter and publishing company founder, composing many hit songs of the 1910s to 1940s, that have become standards and form part of the Great American Song ...

, 1915. * Shorncliffe is also mentioned several times in the Sharpe novels of

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written ''The Saxon ...

as it was the base of the 95th Regiment of Foot to which fictional soldier Richard Sharpe belonged. * The popular

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

archaeology program ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

'' featured a dig conducted on the site. The programme was first screened on 1 May 2007.

References

External links

The Shorncliffe Trust

Coast of Conflict
{{Redoubts Redoubts Forts in Kent Military history of Kent Napoleonic war forts in England Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own)