Originally published at: Exploring Stack Rock Fort, an abandoned three-gun fort built in an estuary in Wales | Boing Boing
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On my travels through Caribbean/Central America/South America as a sailor, forts were my go to place to explore and relieve myself of stress. I must have trudged through hundreds over the years, and they were usually free to visit, bonus.
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I noticed that the video mentioned that the fort had been upgraded in the 1870’s, and just the other week I was at another coastal fort (at Brean Down) which had also been built in the 1870’s, which got me wondering who we were fighting with at that point.
Long story short, the Victorians were worried about the French navy and the government built or upgraded a lot of coastal defences at that time.
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There was a bit of a lead time. But wasn’t France an ally? Napoleon III even entered into British exile after the Franco Prussian War.
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staarting at 19m30s, the music sounds really harsh-- even crunchy.
It’s nice. But I’m really looking to place my lair in a volcano. Traditional.
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Not a fort, but a local thing called Clingstone.
Rumored to have been looked at as the Summer White House under the Kennefy era, it had been unoccupied since the hurricane of '38, with every windows blown out. Since restored by a family called Ward from Boston.
Back in the day, the house was powered solely by a wind generator hooked up to US Navy surplus submarine battery banks, and there was a party there every Thursday night if you could get your carcass out there.
Edit to add: the largest coastal fort in North America sits just across the water - Fort Adams, where the Newport Folk and Jazz Fest have been held for a while:
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No shortage of heat.
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Unlimited geothermal power.
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This looks like it’s not going to survive the rising seas of climate change.
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Undersea lair then?
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Fun for parties until the crab dies.
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I hear it beats holding your breath.
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Plymouth, near where I live, had over £3m (£2b in 2021 money) spent on 26 of these "Palmerston’s Follies. "
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That seems a bit unfair. If they had attacked they would have been Palmerston’s Miracles
The press coined the term - the opponents wanted the money spent on the Navy instead. It was already a phrase they used describing Palmerston’s actions in The Opium Wars.
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