Just a quick blog to update you on yesterdays visit to Shoreham Fort.
Note to self. Its always very windy at Shoreham! Yesterday was a really great bright day, but windy and cold! Anyone who goes to Shoreham in the future should make sure that they have sufficient clothing to deal with this. I suggest, a number of under garments, fleece hat and gloves are a must, as is a very thick a coat.
I always love going to Shoreham, its something that we can aim for, with what we want to achieve at Littlehampton. When you stand next to the 19 ft magazines, you suddenly realise that we have about 13ft of sand to dig out of ours! Actually being there and able to physically touch something makes all the difference.
Gary and his team are doing a truly amazing job, they work so hard. The southern most caponier with the tunnel is well worth a visit, its really interesting to hear about.
Our morning started up on the terriplanes and gun emplacements. Gary explained that their 68 pounder gun emplacements would be exactly the same at Littlehampton, so this was really useful. I recognised how the back gun emplacement wall was made up, as Gary and I discovered Littlehamptons back in February 2011. It was good to see how it would look uncovered.
We went down onto ground level and Gary showed us the eastern magazine, which like Littlehampton, comprises of two compartments. This is an exciting time for Shoreham, as the Coastguard tower which stands on top of their Western Magazine, is due be removed, this will reveal a Magazine underneath which apparently according to Gary is in amazing condition. He explained that the removal of this tower will only take two weeks! So when we go on the 4th March for our Skills Day, it should have been removed and we may get a chance to see it.
Next we went onto the parade ground and barracks. Shoreham and Littlehampton Fort barrack buildings are very similar, in design and size. It was excellent to be looking at floor tiles which, all those years ago would have been the tiles that the Master Gunner would have stood on. In the cook house on the eastern most part of the Fort, you can see where the stove would have stood, as the granit stone still remains today.
Finally we went onto the Western side of the Fort, and gary showed us a truly amazing picture taken in 1890. The picture was a close up shot, showing the Western Capponier, Magazine and you can see up close, the Western end of the Barrack block.
Our thanks go to Gary for his hospitality, and look forward to working with him and his team in the future.
Pictures will be uploaded onto the website over the next couple of days, so keep an eye out for them.
