En un regard
Le château en bref
Henley Fort stands on the Hog's Back, a ridge of the North Downs, on the south-western edge of Guildford. It is one of fifteen mobilisation centres built in the 1890s as part of the London Defence Positions. This plan, drawn up in 1888, was a response to the growth of the French and Russian battle fleets, which had raised doubts about the Royal Navy's ability to defend the country on its own. It provided for a 72-mile entrenched stop line to the south and east of London. Henley Fort, an infantry-type centre and the most westerly of the group, was intended to let troops assemble there and collect tools and ammunition in the event of an imminent invasion.
Once confidence in the navy had been restored, the centres were abandoned around 1905, and the site was sold in 1907. Requisitioned during the Second World War, it was manned by the Home Guard. The work forms an oval enclosure surrounded by an earthen rampart, with a shallow ditch to the south and a spiked railing (Dacoit fence) running all the way round. The entrance is protected by loopholed steel shutters operated from a guardroom built into the rampart. In the forward rampart, a three-roomed ammunition magazine retains its lamp passage and the changing lobby where staff put on non-spark clothing.
The fort is now an outdoor education centre run by Surrey Outdoor Learning & Development, and has been partly renovated.
