FORT SCOVESTON

Commenced August 1861 Completed April 1864

Northern Line Defences

Ditch – Dry

Guns 32

Barrack Accommodation 128

ARMAMENT

Intended 32 guns but no armament shown on 1886 and 1889 returns. Some reports state; never armed.

Technical History

This fort was originally intended to be the central work of the Northern line defences of Milford Haven consisting of six works covering the northern land approach.

A hexagonal work with sides 130 yards in length, it is surrounded by a dry ditch 36 feet wide at the bottom with an escarp of masonry 22 feet high. The counterscarp is cut from natural rock. It is flanked with one double and four single caponiers on two stories with access over a rolling bridge and tunnel through the gorge. The work is enclosed by a rampart with chemin des rondes, covered way and glacis. It was planned to mount 32 guns on the ramparts and had accommodation for 128 men in bomb proof barrack rooms, together with a main magazine and stores. The rear faces are protected from reverse fire by a parados and a traverse thrown across the interior parade.

For most of it’s life it served as barrack accommodation or stood empty under a caretaker.. During WW1 the fort became the main camp for troops manning extensive trenches and field works between Weare Point and Port Lion. A large number of hutments were constructed within and outside the fort to serve a training and transit camp. It was abandoned after WW1 and was sold to the local farmer in October 1932. During WW11 it saw active service once more as an AA gun battery and was used by the locals as an unofficial air raid shelter. It was used to store large quantities of ammunition during the build up to the Normandy Landings.

It is now derelict and overgrown as the pictures show.