A History of Coalhouse Fort: On Guard for 555 Years

By Carole McEntee-Taylor and Martin Clift

Strategically placed on the Essex peninsular, with a near 180-degree arc of fire across the bend in the River Thames at Stanford-Le-Hope, the original earthwork defences at Coalhouse Fort date back to 1402 when the village of East Tilbury was fortified with a rampart and towers for defence against French pirates.

Through the next two centuries further fortifications were built on the site, culminating with the current fort, which was constructed between 1861 and 1874 to defend the Thames from the French. Known as Palmerston’s Follies, because none fired a shot in anger until the Second World War, Coalhouse Fort was part of Lord Palmerston’s defensive wall to protect the British Isles from Europe. 'A History of Coalhouse Fort' uses a mixture of military records, historical narrative, background information, Letters from the Front, first-hand accounts from WRNS, named individuals, local archives and newspapers accounts to tell the story of the men who were based there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: Apr 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781526701411

Carole McEntee-Taylor

I write military history, historical fiction and memoirs and sometimes a mixture of all three. I am also a ghost writer of novels and memoirs.My non fiction, published by by Pen and Sword Books Ltd, include Herbert Columbine VC, Surviving the Nazi Onslaught, A Battle Too Far, Military Detention Colchester from 1947, The Battle of Bellewaarde June 1915, From Colonial Warrior to Western Front Flyer, The History of Coalhouse Fort and A History of Women’s Lives in Scunthorpe.I have also written a biography of John Doubleday to be included in his book: The Work and published The Weekend Trippers and My War and Peace myself. I am always on the look out for new military memoirs to publish. If you would like to know more please visit my website.My spiritual books are The Re-Enlightenment and The Holiday From Hell.My fiction includeSecrets ( a book of six short stories)Lives Apart: A WW2 Chronicle - a five book series inspired by the true story of my in-laws.Obsession - a five book series inspired by the true story of the missing POWs at the end of WW2.Betrayed - a stand alone murder mystery set in WW2 Germany and Palestine.Secret Lives - a six book series set before and during WW1.A One Way Ticket - a four book series inspired by the true story of Bill Young through WW2 and beyond.

Book preview

Chapter 1

The First Fortifications

Strategically placed on the Essex peninsula, Coalhouse Fort has a near 180-degree arc of fire across the bend in the River Thames at Stanford-le-Hope and back towards London. Although the first documented defences here are from the fifteenth century, built in 1402 while Henry IV was king, there are Neolithic tribal defences at Orsett, late Bronze Age hillforts at Mucking and Iron Age ditched enclosures between Tilbury and East Tilbury which suggest there has always been a need to defend the settlements here from raiders.

There has been a settlement at East Tilbury since at least the later Saxon period but probably earlier. A hand axe recovered from north of St Catherine’s Church, a Neolithic flint axe found in the Thames, a Bronze Age whetstone discovered locally and reference to a possible Neolithic burial in East Tilbury, suggests there was occupation during prehistoric and Roman times. The ferry between East Tilbury and Higham is thought to have been already established by the Roman period, providing access from Watling Street to London and thus Dover.

Archaeological evidence also points to settlement activity from the Iron Age to the Roman period. People would have exploited the natural resources of the salt marshes using the river as a communication channel and the road leading through East Tilbury follows the route of a Roman road. East of St Catherine’s Church several items of Iron Age pottery and coins were found and Roman bricks were reused in the church. It is further believed Tilbury is the ‘Tilaburg’ documented by the Venerable Bede in the eighth century.

By the thirteenth century the ferry formed part of the manor of South Hall and in the fourteenth century, the manor and the proceeds from the ferry were granted by Sir John de Cobham to the Wardens of the Rochester Bridge. In the summer and autumn of 1338 the French attacked and burned towns along the south coast of England, including Portsmouth and Southampton. The French subsequently attempted to take Plymouth in 1340, but the assault was unsuccessful, because the town was prepared. In response to these attacks, existing defences were upgraded, town walls were erected in Southampton in the 1360s and 1370s and King Edward III built a castle at Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey (Kent). The latter was intended to improve the defence of the Thames Estuary.

Born at Bolingbroke Castle in 1366, Henry IV was the son of John of Gaunt, the fourth son of Edward III and Blanche Plantagenet, Duchess of Lancaster, who was descended from Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, the second son of Henry III. On St George’s Day in 1377 Henry was created a Knight of the Garter by his grandfather, Edward III, and later that year Henry held the Sword of Mercury, Curtana, at his cousin Richard II’s coronation. While still a child Henry was married to Mary de Bohun, whose father, the Earl of Hereford, had died without any male heirs. His estates were divided between his two daughters, Mary and Eleanor, who became wards of Edward III. Eleanor was the eldest and she married the 1st Duke of Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock. Not wanting to share his wife’s inheritance, he encouraged Mary, who was still a child, to become a nun. However, Thomas’ elder brother, John of Gaunt, arranged for Mary to be abducted from the convent and married her to his son Henry. They were married on 27 July 1380 at Arundel Castle when Mary was 12 and Henry

14. Mary remained with her mother Joan after the wedding because John of Gaunt did not intend his son to consummate the marriage until Mary was 16. However, the couple disobeyed him and Mary became pregnant at 14. The child, a boy, died after a few days but they had six other children, including the future Henry V who was born when Mary was 18.

Henry grew to be a short, stocky adult with red-brown hair, red beard, brown eyes and a love of music and song. He held the titles of Earl of Herford in right of his wife and was also the Earl of Derby. Meanwhile cousin Richard was facing considerable challenges. In 1380 the French made a major incursion into the Thames, attacking and burning Gravesend in Kent and settlements on the Essex side of the river. In theory East Tilbury should have been covered in the general defensive measures for the Essex coastline, especially as there were designated officers appointed to take charge of the residents’ protection. Hadleigh Castle, eleven miles downstream from East Tilbury, had been rebuilt in 1369 as a direct response to attacks by the French. There was also a system of early-warning beacons on both sides of the river. But none of these defences protected the settlement against this raid.

The people of Tilbury complained about their vulnerability to attack but initially Richard had more pressing issues to deal with. In 1381 he faced the Peasants’ Revolt led by Wat Tyler and three years later he went to war in Scotland. But wars cost money and trying to raise taxes to pay for the Scottish war and for the protection of Calais was making him increasingly unpopular. Eventually Richard’s lack of interest in the border war and the preferential treatment of some of his close friends and advisors began to anger the barons, one of whom was his uncle. Known as the Lords Appellant, the barons accused five of his advisors of treason, gained control of the council and tried to restart the war in France. But there were no funds to pay troops so eventually a truce was signed with the French at Leulinghen.

From 1389 Richard gradually rebuilt his power with the help of John of Gaunt. But although Henry originally supported his cousin Richard this changed after Henry accused the fifth Lord Appellant, Mowbray, of treason. A trial by combat was intended to settle the issue but Richard intervened, prevented the duel and banished Henry for ten years. Meanwhile in 1393, aged 25, Henry’s wife Mary died giving birth to her sixth child, a daughter, Philippa. Richard then confiscated Henry’s estates which were extensive and decreed his banishment should be extended to life.

Six years later John of Gaunt died and Henry returned to England, ostensibly to safeguard his inheritance, but actually to take the throne from his cousin. He landed in Ravenspur in 1399, raised an army and marched to meet the king. Richard hurried back from Ireland to Wales and met Henry’s representative at Conwy Castle. Richard was told that if he returned Henry’s estates and surrendered certain councillors for trial he could stay in power, but although Richard agreed he was captured by Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, known as Harry Hotspur, while on his way from Conwy to Flint Castle. Richard was imprisoned in Chester before being taken to London and thrown into a dungeon in the Tower. At the end of September 1399 a Parliament was called, Richard was declared a tyrant and Henry was proclaimed regent and then king. Richard was removed to Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire where he was declared dead in February 1400, probably from starvation although no cause of death had ever been proved.

At Henry’s coronation on 13 October one of his golden spurs fell off, leading to rumours of evil omens and warning of impending rebellion. But Henry was only too aware of how insecure his position was. The change of regime in England prompted more border raids from Scotland that were only stopped by the defeat of the Scottish army at the Battle of Homildon Hill after an invasion in 1402. Concerns continued over the security of the Thames Estuary and in 1402 the people of East Tilbury petitioned the Council of State ‘that a commission be issued to Gosholm and his three colleagues, allowing them to take labourers and builders to work on the fortifications of the town, which the people intend to build in order to protect the town and the River Thames from the French and other enemies’.

The response of the Council was: ‘Let commissions be made to the people named within to take labourers and builders both within the franchise and without for their works, paying them reasonably for the work specified, to last one month. By the council, by the Chancellor, Treasurer, the Bishop of Hereford, the Keeper of the Privy Seal, J Scarle, J Prophet, J Doreward.’ The requested commission was issued on 17 July 1402 stating that it was a ‘Commission for one month, to Robert Gosholm, William Lee, Nicholas Denys and John Archer to take labourers and workmen for the fortification of the town of East Tilbury, co. Essex, with a wall of earth and garrets, which men of the town intend to make for defence against the French and other enemies’.

This fortification work was probably begun shortly after 17 July 1402. Although the location of the 1402 fortification has not been traced on the ground, it is likely to have encompassed the church and possibly the area that is now occupied by the current fort. The reference to ‘garrets’, literally ‘lofts’, is more likely a reference to timber structures upon the earthen rampart rather than separate towers. The records refer to a banked enclosure forming the north, east and south boundaries of the churchyard, and suggest that this may relate to these early fortifications, although a nineteenth-century date is also proposed. Presumably if the defences had been built they would have been referred to in property deeds, but there is no further reference to the fortifications at East Tilbury throughout the fifteenth century.

Meanwhile Henry IV and Henry Percy began fighting over control of Northern England which resulted in the virtually complete destruction of the Percy family by 1408. Furthermore, after the coronation, Richard’s supporters also rebelled as did Owain Glyn Dwr who proclaimed himself the true Prince of Wales and captured Conwy Castle. In 1402 the Welsh captured Henry’s cousin Edmund Mortimer, the Earl of March, and demanded a large ransom for his release. Because Edmund had a better claim to the throne, Henry was in no hurry to secure his release so Mortimer changed sides. The French and Bretons were also supporting the Welsh and were busy attacking the English south coast at will. In East Tilbury defences were suddenly important again and in July 1402 a Royal Commission finally agreed to the erection of an earthen rampart and towers within a month.

These first fortifications to be built at Coalhouse were earthworks with wooden palisades and wooden towers where archers waited to shoot down on any enemy foolish enough to attack. The archers would also have been able to fire on any ships in the Thames. They had two special types of arrows which did not travel as far as the usual bodkin arrows used in battle. One of these was the fire arrow. These were spade-headed arrows which had a hole cut into the spade through which some flammable material, possibly wool, would be passed through. The material was soaked in pig fat so would set fire whatever it hit. The other type of arrow with a large sickle type of head was designed to cut through sails and ropes to slow the ship down, although most ships of this period were galleys and barques equipped with rows of oars manned by Muslim prisoners taken in the constant battles in the Mediterranean between North African pirates and their European counterparts. Although these defences may have prevented raiders entering the river, they were little more than local protection for a settlement that had suffered numerous raids. The only surviving evidence of these defences is a ditch near the present St Catherine’s Church.

Having changed sides, Mortimer and his brother-in-law, Henry Percy, marched to meet the King’s army at Shrewsbury on 21 July 1403 where they were defeated by the King and Hotspur was killed. In the same year Henry married again, this time to Joan of Navarre who was the widow of John IV of Brittany and the daughter of Charles II of Navarre. The marriage did not prove popular with either the people or the aristocracy. However, although the Welsh rebellion was not completely defeated until 1415, Henry IV was now able to concentrate his attention on the French.

Despite this, the fighting over the next three years was the worst it had been for decades. In August 1403 a Breton squadron, commanded by the Sieur du Chastel, defeated the English fleet in the Channel and went on to attack Jersey, Guernsey and Plymouth which they occupied and subsequently burnt. The French attack was stopped by a wooden boom strategically placed across the water and while they were trapped they were bombarded by artillery until nightfall. Then the ship’s company boarded small rowing boats and slipped into the city where they looted and burned part of the town. It was not until the following day that reinforcements arrived to drive them out. This was not an isolated attack and the English soon learned the only way to defend the towns against these raiders was to place guns in a well-defended place supported by a larger garrison. Dartmouth, Portland, Pool, Southampton, Jersey, Sandwich, Rye, Winchelsea, the Isle of Wight and even Blackpool were constantly under attack throughout the fifteenth century from the French and their Castilian and Breton allies.

The ferry at East Tilbury had continued to operate throughout the fifteenth century and records show that two boats were leased out by the wardens in 1507, but by 1530 the causeways used by the ferries on both sides of the river had gradually fallen into disrepair and were no longer operating. In 1552 the ferry was described as ‘of very smale valewe’.

Chapter 2

From Henry VIII to Napoleon

In the sixteenth century, the English Reformation was to have far-reaching consequences for England, not least a need to increase defences against a possible invasion. Henry VIII had married his brother Arthur’s widow, Catherine, but she had failed to produce a male heir. In 1527 Catherine was deemed too old to have any more children and Henry convinced himself that God was punishing him for marrying Arthur’s wife, even though there was no evidence that the marriage had ever been consummated. Henry had also become infatuated with Anne Boleyn. Anne’s sister, Mary, had already been Henry’s mistress and discarded when he grew bored so Anne decided to hold out for marriage. However, the Catholic Church did not allow divorce, so in 1527 Henry tried to have the marriage annulled on the grounds of Catherine’s previous marriage. However, the Emperor Charles V of Spain, who was Catherine’s nephew, had Rome surrounded so Pope Clement VII refused. In 1530 Thomas Cranmer suggested that Kings of England enjoyed Imperial Power, similar to that of the first Christian Emperors, therefore, providing the Archbishop of Canterbury agreed, Henry could have his divorce. But William Warham would not give permission so Henry charged the clergy with the unlawful exercise of spiritual jurisdiction. After two years of arguing the clergy finally gave in and in 1533 a new act was passed which asserted England’s judicial independence. However, time was now of the essence because Anne was pregnant. Fortunately for Henry, Warham died and he was able to replace him with Cranmer who immediately agreed to the divorce.

The Act of Supremacy in 1534 declared Henry to be the Supreme Head of the Church of England, but the reformation had only just begun. Anne was a Protestant and determined to push the reforms with the help of Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell. The wealth of the churches was assessed and the Dissolution of the Monasteries began in 1540. The destruction of priceless ecclesiastical treasures and the sale of two-thirds of church land to the laity took four years. Much of the money raised was used to prop up to Henry’s vanity wars in France, but politically it ensured that those who bought land were unlikely to want a return to Catholicism.

After Henry VIII broke with Rome coastal defences were increased because the King fully expected the Pope to form an army made up from various states to ensure England returned to the Holy See. The first artillery fortification at East Tilbury was built in 1539–40 and was intended not to protect the village, but to block the Thames against an enemy fleet. At the time the Thames was not only the gateway to the capital and the Royal Palaces but also carried a high proportion of English exports.

The new East Tilbury blockhouse was situated at Coalhouse Point which is about half a mile from where the village is now located. On the other side of the Thames on the Kent shore was the Higham blockhouse which crossed fire with East Tilbury and the two provided the first line of defence on the river. The second line of defence, three miles further upstream, comprised the Tilbury, Gravesend and Milton blockhouses.

The blockhouse cost £506 and was built using materials from the nearby St Margaret’s Chapel which had been dissolved in 1536. There are no pictures of the blockhouse but it was probably a brick and stone structure with a rampart and a ditch enclosing the landward side. The Tilbury blockhouse was built in the shape of a D so it is likely this was the same. There were originally fifteen iron and brass cannon of varying types and calibre, but by 1547–8 this had been increased to twenty-seven. Although these guns had a range of about a mile they were more effective at shorter ranges. There was a permanent garrison located in the blockhouse, consisting of Captain Beyfield on one shilling a day, his deputy on nine pence a day, a porter, two soldiers and four gunners who were all earning six pence a day.

By 1553 the blockhouse was disarmed as was the blockhouse at Higham. Even in 1588, when the Duke of Parma threatened to land in the Thames during the Spanish Armada attempts to invade England, the blockhouse does not appear to have featured in the defensive preparations, although there was a large military camp established at West Tilbury and the blockhouse was marked on the military maps from that date. However, a bridge of boats was built across the river which not only blocked the river to Spanish ships whilst leaving them under the fire of the guns of the blockhouse, but also provided a rapid crossing for the army. John Norrey was Marshal of the Camp at Tilbury when, on 1 August, Queen Elizabeth I landed there and made her famous speech to the armies at West Tilbury.

The commander of the troops at Tilbury was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the Queen’s long-term favourite despite his marriage to Lettice Knollys. Lettice had come to court on the accession of Elizabeth to the throne and was one of her Maids of Honour. She was the daughter of Catherine Carey, daughter of Mary Boleyn and first cousin to the Queen. Very attractive, with red-gold hair and porcelain skin, Lettice had also inherited the Boleyns’ promiscuity. Queen Elizabeth was said to be jealous of Lettice’s good looks and so was delighted to consent to her marriage in 1560 to Walter Devereux, Viscount Hereford. In 1572 he became Earl of Essex. They had five children and lived in Chartley Hall in Staffordshire. Walter served one tour of Ireland as Lord Deputy followed by another as Earl Marshal of Ireland while Lettice remained at home.

Robert Dudley had been Queen Elizabeth’s favourite for several years but was rumoured to have had an affair with Lettice Knollys in 1565. In 1576 the Earl of Essex contracted dysentery and died while in Ireland. Rumours were rife that he had been poisoned on the orders of Robert Dudley but this was never proved. Robert married the dowager countess Lettice Knollys in secret while she was pregnant with his child, first at Kenilworth and then, at the insistence of her father Sir Francis Knollys, again at Wansted in 1578, this time in front of witnesses. They managed to keep the marriage secret from the Queen for almost a year because no one wanted to tell her. When Elizabeth was eventually told by the French ambassador, who hoped he might be able to use the information to encourage the Queen to marry the Duke of Alençon, she was furious. The Earl of Sussex dissuaded her from having Leicester imprisoned in the Tower, and instead he was banished