Cockham Wood Fort was constructed in 1669 on the north bank of the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in south-east

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. In conjunction with

Fort Gillingham Fort Gillingham, also known as Gillingham Fort, was constructed in 1669 on the south bank of the River Medway in Kent, England. In conjunction with Cockham Wood Fort it took on the role of defending Chatham Dockyard from seaborne attack, a rol ...

it took on the role of defending Chatham Dockyard from seaborne attack, a role which had been performed by

Upnor Castle Upnor Castle is an Elizabethan artillery fort located on the west bank of the River Medway in Kent. It is in the village of Upnor, opposite and a short distance downriver from the Chatham Dockyard, at one time a key naval facility. The fort was ...

for the previous hundred years. Built in 1669 by Sir Bernard de Gomme as a direct result of the Dutch raid on Chatham Dockyard in 1667. It was constructed with a brick base supporting an upper tier of earthworks. As built it had 21 guns on the lower tier and 20 on the upper tier. The fort was abandoned around 1818 after several decades of gradual dilapidation. Some of its structure is still standing, the most obvious part being the brickwork of the lower battery which is a prominent feature on the shoreline of the River Medway. A

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

, it is on the

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

References

External links

Remains of Cockham Wood Fort (Geograph)
17th-century forts in England Scheduled monuments in Kent {{Kent-struct-stub