The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 20, 1864,

THE PORTSDOWN FORTS,

Three hundred men from the 2d battalion of the
2d Royals,stationed at Portsmouth, have encamped
on Portsdown-hill, where they will be employed,
under the direction of the Royal Engineer officers
superintending the construction of the forts, in
levelling the ground and removing the trees and
hedgerows from the northern slope of the hill in
the immediate front of the line of forts now rising
along the hill's crest. By this measure the north
side of Portsdown, which is nearly seven miles in
extent, will be converted into one immense glacis,
to the forts ranged along its top, open to the sweep-
ing fire from their guns from end to end, and bare
of cover for a foe.
In The Sun of Sept. 4, 1863, under the head of
"The Fortifications of Portsmouth," was given a
general description of the line of works which are
being created along the crest of Portsdown—the
base of the great pentangular plan of defence which
is rising up and encircling Portsmouth, its harbour,
shipping, dockyard, and arsenal—and it will, there-
fore, render any further notice of them at the pre-
sent time, perhaps, the more clear and interesting
to the general reader if one of those works is
selected as an illustration of the progress which has
been made in their construction, and also of the
kind of works they will be when completed.
The Portsdown forts, with the exception of the
two central forts, vary in their designs according
to the position they hold. Thus the western end
of Portsdown is held by Fort Wallington, a very
extensive work, intended to mount 56 guns on its
terre-plein, exclusive of guns in an advanced
work, and of guns in caponnieres and mortars in
batteries in rear of the caponnieres in the ditches.
The latter are 21 feet in width at the base, and
50 feet at the counterscarp. The eastern end of
the hill is held by Fort Purbrook and its two
outworks, Farlington and Crookhorn, and will
mount a total of 55 guns on the terre-plein, exclu-
sive of guns and mortars in the fosse. Three other
works—Widley, Southwick, and Nelson—occupy
positions along the intervening space between the
eastern and western works just alluded to. Nelson
stands nearest to Fort Wallington, and differs from
the central works of Southwick and Widley in hav-
ing its face constructed at an acute instead of an
obtuse angle. It will mount 30 guns on its terre
plein, and will, like the others, have its guns in ca-
ponnieres and mortar batteries in its fosse or di"ch. ,
Widley and Southwick occupy the central position
of the line, are alike in design and extent, and stand
nearest in position to Portsmouth dockyard and ar-
senal. Widley, the easternmost of the two, indeed,
commands the high road which leads from the main-
land to the only entrance to the island of Portsea,
which contains Portsmouth and all its belongings,
which these vast fortifications are intended to assist
in protecting ; and for this reason we will select
Fort Widley for our present illustration, and aps
proach it from the north—that is, from inland, as an
enemy would approach it after having effected a
landing on some other part of the coast with the in-

tuition of afterwards advancing upon Portsmouth.
Approaching Portsdown, therefore, in this manner
from the north, and crossing the valley at its base
between the Hinges of Southwick and Purbrook,
Portsdown towers upwards to a height of upwarda
of 400 ft above high-water mark immediately in
front, with the huge, hammocklike appearance cap-
ping the bill at about its centre, and other ham-
mocklike appearances right and left along the hill,
showing the position of the other forts. From the
valley the hill looks like one monster fortification,

the several forts forming the bastions, and the 11:11's
crest and slope the connecting curtains and cover-
ing glacis, Sc. Ascending the hill's slope the reader
would, after some little fatigue, stand upon the edge
of the fosse or counterscarp of the dry moat which
surrounds Fort Widley. It is cut down into
the chalk 35ft. and 50ft. in width, the counterscarp
and escarp—i,e., outer and inner walls of the moat
being vertical, the counterscarp being merely the
unsupported chalk cutting, but the escarp being a
composite wall, to which it will be necessary to refer
again presently. At each angle of the escarp wall a
bombproof caponniere stands out into the ditch from
the fort (the counterscarp in front of each capouniere
being out into a bay to P,dmit of this) and sweeps the
line of moat with fire from rifle and howitzer. The
moat which surrounds the fort is thus commanded
by the capon fierce at each angle of the work, inde-
pendent of any aid from its defenders from its ram-
parts, excepting that additional assistance may be
given to the defenders in the caponnieres by a rifle
from the top of the escarp. Descending from the
counterscarp into the moat it will be found that a
considerable portion of both escarp and counterscarp
walls is lying in the moat, the chalk of the counter-
scarp having fallen from the natural effects of the
weather, and the composite wall of the escarp from
its weakness and inability to support the immense
pressure of the ramp behind it. It is built up of
segmental brick arches with lBft. bays and 3ft.
brick piers, filled in with IBin, of flint onwards, 27in.
of chalk masonry in the core, and 9in. of brick on
the inside, giving a total thickness of 4ft. 6in. At
the angles of the wall it is very weakly designed,
and large masses have fallen bodily into the moat.
At other parts the chalk where it has appeared solid
has been allowed to form part of the lower portion
of the wall, the3brickwerk and composite wall com-
mencing about a third of the way up the escarp. In
every instance of this kind the chalk is peeling off
in large flakes, and the composite wall must be con-
tinued to the level of the bottom of the moat, or it
must fall. Leaving the moat, however, with its
vertical walls and bombproof caponnieres, each of
the latter a complete little fortress in itself, the
reader can now ascend the 35ft. of escarp wall,
and stepping down inside the work from the coping
stone of the wall will find himself on a narrow
raised pathway that runs round the inside of the
escarp, and on which the defenders of the work
would stand when opening a rifle fire over the wall
either on an enemy on the glacis outside the
fort, or attempting to force the moat. A step lower down
again and ',he reader would stand on the chemin de roads,
a pathway that goes entirely round the work, but outside
the rampart, below the line of embrasures considerably, and
covered from observation from the outside of the fort by the
top of the escarp wall. At each angle there are loop-holed
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platforms. These are intended for mortar batteries for
the especial benefit of any enemy who may obtain posses_
Sion of any part of the ground or valley in front of the posi-
tion. From the chentin de ronde the grass-covered rampart
stretches upwards at the usual angle of inclination and, this surmounted, the interior of the fort is gained.' The
parade level of the fort is 342 ft. above high-water mark
the terre-plein 354 ft., and the top of the parapet 362 ft. at,
its right shoulder, and 364 ft at its left. The fort is, like
all the ethers on the hill, of exceedingly simple trace,
though of prodigious strength. It is of horseshoe shape,
with obtuse-angled faces, and with the base line of its
figure atutting upan a military road, which extends as a
base line throughout the position and connects the forts

with each other. The rampart has blind embrasures, ex-
cept the central one, and has platforms laid on the terre-
plein for 21 guns. The mortar batteries will each mount
five or 13. inch and the caponnieres in the moat will
mount 1G howitzers, besides having ample loopholed space
for rifle fire. The rampart at its right and left extremities
rests upon bomb-proof casements for troops or staff-
quarters , but the gorge of the work is not yet closed, the
precise manner in which this will be done not having yet
been decided. It was originally intended to close the gorge
of each of the Portsdown forts with iron-casen keeps,
but the absurdity of carrying out such a scheme on a hill
of chalk condemned it, and it is believed to be the inten-
tion now to close each gorge with a barrack for the accom-
modation of the garrison. As digging wells for a water
supply would be a difficult operation on Portsdown, each
fort contains within the precincts of its parade a large tank,
into which water will be pumped from the valley in front
near Southwick. In the centre of the fort parade is a circu-
lar stone staircase, which, descending 40ft. through the
chalk, leads to the main magazine, which is 50ft. in length,
lift. in height, and 291 t. Gin, wide. It is built up of six
courses of brick, every alternate course being of hollow
bricks, and is surrounded externally by a 2 ft. air space.
From this magazine sunken galleries, varying from 200 ft.
to 400 ft. in length, and closed by iron gates, lead to the
mortar batteries and the calonnieres in the moat. The
fort underground, in fact, with its circular staircase, maga-
zine, sunken galleries, and massive caponnieres, is equal in
interest with the fort abova ground, and would, perhaps,
be the more interesting of the t ,vo to the casual visitor,
We have noticed several errors in the ccnstruction of
the fort, but they are solely errors of design, and it is but
simple justice to say that the work of the contractor appears
to have been well and faithfully performed.