Cockham Wood Fort

http://kentarchaeology.org.uk/research/archaeologia-cantiana/ Kent Archaeological Society is a registered charity number 223382 © 2017 Kent Archaeological Society COCKHAM WOOD FORT VICTOR T.C. SMITH, B.A. INTRODUCTION This is a report of documentary research and field investigations by members of the Kent Defence Research Group and the New Tavern Fort Project during 1992-93. Cockham Wood Fort, built from 1669, is on the left bank of the River Medway, 2 kilometres (1.25 miles) downstream of Upnor at N.G.R. TQ 777712. It formed part of a system of artillery defences to protect the river approaches to the Royal Dockyard at Chatham and the anchorage for Royal Navy warships which occupied the 6 or so kilometres (3.75 miles) of reaches below Rochester Bridge. Much of the plan of the fort is traceable on the ground but its brick- faced river front is in a seriously deteriorating condition, being gradually undercut and destroyed by tidal erosion. Now therefore, seems an opportune moment to describe the history of the fort as well as its remains. An archaeological investigation of the fort is long overdue (particularly of the areas at risk from tidal action) before the evidence to be uncovered becomes lost. HISTORY Origins and the Dutch Raid The fort formed part of a wider strategy to provide new and improved defences for the Medway, Thames, Portsmouth and Plymouth in the years following the destructive Dutch raid on the Medway in 1667. New defences had in fact been proposed for all these places in the several years before the Dutch Raid.' Indeed, in the Medway a new fort A.D. Saunders, Fortress Britain, Liphook, 1989, 83 ff. 55 VICTOR T.C. SMITH had been under construction at Garrison Point at Sheerness at the moment the Dutch attacked. The trauma of the Dutch Raid emphasised the weakness of England's coastal defences and gave a greater urgency to the need to protect key areas with effective defences. Nowhere did this seem more necessary or immediate a need than for the security of the Medway. The defence of the Medway involved national interests. By the 1620s Chatham had become England's premier naval base.2 The reaches of the river between Rochester and Chatham had been used as a mooring for naval vessels out of commission since the reign of Henry VIII and storage facilities for the fleet had existed on the riverbank at Chatham since at least 1547.3 Increasing numbers of ships were being built and repaired at Chatham by the time of the three Dutch Wars (1652-74). Further emphasising the importance of the Medway, a new dockyard had been started at Sheerness shortly before the Dutch Raid. Ships based in the Medway were also conveniently located for offensive naval operations against the Dutch. However, sometimes wind conditions might considerably delay vessels from Rochester or Chatham making the journey all the way downstream to the mouth of the river. Yet, if insufficiently protected, the shoreline naval facilities and the anchorage were vulnerable to naval attack by an enemy. Although an unpiloted advance up the meandering river by an enemy squadron was not easy, especially with the hazard of areas of very low water which risked vessels grounding, any difficulties were surmounted by the Dutch in 1667 who apparently brought people with them who were knowledgeable of the river.4 Modest artillery defences had been a feature of the Medway since the mid 1540s, with gun positions built at Sheerness (and possibly at Grain) to guard the entrance to the river and Queenborough Castle was re-fortified.5 Upstream, Upnor Castle was built between 1559 and the later 60s to guard the adjacent naval anchorage. In 1575 a bastioned fort was started downstream at Swaleness6 to defend the Medway against a flanking attack into it from the River Swale, but work seems never to have been completed. Instead, the Privy Council preferred to adopt the expedient of blocking St. Mary's 'and sundry other creeks' with piles.7 As an additional defence in 1585, during the early part of 2 Philip MacDougall, The Chatham Dockyard Story, Rochester, 1981, 26. 3 Ibid., 14. 4 Ibid., 41. 5 History of the King's Works, IV 1485-1660 (II), London, 1982, 477 ff. 6 Acts of the Privy Council, viii, 273, 281. 7 VCH, ii, 1908, 295. 56 COCKHAM WOOD FORT the war with Spain, a substantial chain was plac1 in the river below Upnor Castle.8 This could be raised into positio'q as an obstacle to navigation in a period of threatened attack. By 1595,W not earlier, there were four sconces or artillery batteries in the Medway, called Warham, Bay, Openhall and Dane.9 Warham and Bay were located on the riverbank just downstream of Upnor Castle. The positions of Openhall and Dane are not yet known. The year of the Dutch Raid (1667) found the Medway in an uncertain state of defence. A heavy iron chain had again been placed across the river, this time between Gillingham and Hoo Ness with extemporised batteries built at either end during the actual period of emergency.m However, the construction of a new fort at Sheerness had not progressed far and it was soon captured by the Dutch when they attacked.11 This left the way open to the Dutch to advance upstream where they were able to clear an English blockship from the channel and overcome the obstacle of the chain to burn and capture a number of ships before withdrawing unscathed to the Thames Estuary. The guns of Upnor Castle, too far upstream to protect adequately the whole of the gradually increasing anchorage, may have deterred the Dutch from pressing their attack further. The Dutch had, in any event, exhausted their supply of fire ships. Whether Warham and Bay Batteries were still extant is at present unclear, but some extemporised batteries had certainly been formed during the emergency to cover the dockyard itself and the Dutch may, from their observation, have become aware of these.12 The disaster had demonstrably revealed the insecure condition of the Medway which had scarcely possessed a scheme of defence worth the name. Prince Rupert was ordered to review the defences of the river and, as an early measure, the deficient chain was replaced at Gillingham.13 The key to an effective defence was, however, the building of further and correctly positioned powerful artillery defences. The works at Sheerness were redesigned, re-started and extended while on 22 December, 1668, the Board of Ordnance ordered the building of '2 new forts at Chatham by Gillingham and Cookham'.14 The name Cookham was sometimes used in documents at this early period but more often Cockham Wood was used. The place- 8 Cal. SR Dom., 1581-90, 304. 9 PRO W055/1609. m Philip MacDougall, op. cit. in note 2. I Ibid., 42. 12 Ibid., and H.A. James, The Dutch in the Medway, Chatham, 1967, 11. 13 Philip MacDougall, op. cit. in note 2, 44. 14 J. Presnail, Chatham — the story of a Dockyard Town, Chatham, 1952, 127, 57 VICTOR T.C. SMITH name Cookham or Cockham may derive from the Old English for settlement on a hill.'8 The new defences were placed where artillery firepower could be used to the best advantage to protect the anchorage and the naval shore facilities. This meant finding positions from which to command the river approaches to the anchorage at long range and to defend against close attack, both of which the existing defences had been incapable of achieving. Gillingham Fort, on the right bank of the Medway was sited at the entrance to St. Mary's Creek just upstream of the chain. It both guarded the entrance to the creek and handled the long-range defence of the main channel approaches to the anchorage. It had a field of fire along the straight length of river which formed Gillingham Reach, towards the Mussell Bank, a treacherous area of low water where the river bent into Pinup Reach. It could direct a withering fire on ships which would not have been able to return fire for a lengthy period until almost broadside on, by which time considerable damage might have been inflicted upon them. Likewise, it could have brought a broadside fire to bear on ships which succeeded in passing it by upstream into Short Reach. Cockham Wood Fort on the left bank, about 1.6 kilometres (1 mile) upstream would then have taken over. It had the same capability to direct a long range fire and a devastating broadside against a target attempting to pass by and which would also have had to negotiate a small nearby mud bank in midstream. So the 1.6 kilometres (1 mile) of river both in front of and behind the chain were covered with fire. Upnor Castle became a second line of defence. The building of the fort By February, 1669,16 Sir Bernard de Gomme, the King's Chief Engineer, had surveyed the river Medway between Rochester Bridge and the Mussell Bank and by then must have had his initial draughts for the design of the two forts. In March the arrangements for managing the building of the forts had been settled, including the procurement of materials such as timber, brick, stone and lime, the supply of workmen and financial matters.17 The lines of both forts were staked out between 30 March and 2 April and work on construction soon began.18 Several maps and plans, apparently dated to 1669, portray Cockham Wood and Gillingham forts.19 These include 'The River of Chatham 15 A.H.

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