Fort Halstead

Coordinates: 51°18′42″N 0°08′58″E / 51.31171°N 0.14936°E / 51.31171; 0.14936
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Map of the area of Kent north of the town of Sevenoaks showing Fort Halstead
Fort Halstead former MOD establishment in Kent UK, viewed in 2011. At intervals there is a projection in the fence line, this is to allow those guards inside to get a better view along the outside of the fence.

Fort Halstead was a research site of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), an executive agency of the UK Ministry of Defence. It is situated on the crest of the Kentish North Downs, overlooking the town of Sevenoaks, southeast of London. Originally constructed in 1892 as part of a ring of fortresses around London, Fort Halstead was to be staffed by volunteers in the event of a crisis.

The base became home to the Projectile Development Establishment, the Ministry of Supply and later was the headquarters of the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE).[1][2]

Design and construction

Fort Halstead formed a part of the

Volunteer Force, who were tasked with digging the entrenchments and manning them against any invaders.[3]

Putting these plans into action in 1890, the

scarp face. A cottage was built for a caretaker, who was responsible for maintenance and security in peacetime.[3]

History as a defensive work

The growing superiority of the

stop line.[3]

Fort Halstead seems to have reverted to its intended role at this time; in 1915, a laboratory was built inside the fort for the inspection of ammunition. In 1921, the fort was sold to a retired colonel, who took up residence in the laboratory and let out the cottages. The rest of the site was used as a campsite for the Territorial Army, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, and accommodation of refugees.[5]

Rocket research

In 1938, Fort Halstead became the home of the Projectile Development Establishment, which was continuing work on

solid fuelled rockets that had started at Royal Arsenal in Woolwich two years earlier. Under the direction of Alwyn Crow, work was mainly on rockets that could be used as anti-aircraft weapons. In connection with this research, over eighty new buildings were constructed in and around the fort.[5]

The work at Halstead resulted in the 7-inch

Land Mattress surface-to-surface bombardment systems.[6]

In 1940, Fort Halstead became vulnerable to enemy action and Germans knew about the rocket development there, so Projectile Development Establishment was evacuated to

RAE Aberporth.[7]

History of RARDE

Two departments, the "Research Department" and the "Design Department", were established in 1922 at

William George Penney,[2] who had been appointed Chief Superintendent Armament Research ("CSAR", called "Caesar") by C. P. Snow. Operation Hurricane saw the bomb conveyed by frigate to Australia and successfully exploded in the Montebello Islands.[2] In 1950, it is thought that the 'HER' research was moved to a new site at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Aldermaston in Berkshire
.

In 1955, the two departments were merged to give the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), which was granted the title "Royal" in February 1962.

Waltham Abbey and Westcott
.

Following the December 1988

Lockerbie bombing, forensic experts from RARDE's explosives laboratory examined material recovered from the crash scene, and subsequently testified as expert witnesses at the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial
.

In 1996, the bus from the Aldwych bus bombing was taken to Fort Halstead for analysis, where previously a number of Irish Republican Army (IRA) explosive devices had been examined.

RARDE was home to a number of

invasion of Kuwait and throughout the latter half of 1990, a series of computerised war games were conducted at RARDE in preparation for Operation Granby, Britain's contribution to the Gulf War
.

In 2017, scientists from the Forensic Explosives Laboratory at Fort Halstead examined the wreckage of the aircraft from the

crash of a Polish Air Force Tu-154 in 2010, for traces of explosives, after being engaged by the Polish government.[9]

Evolution to DERA

On 1 April 1991, the

Strathclyde University to investigate the laboratory's alleged shortcomings.[10]

Dstl and QinetiQ

Following the split of DERA in 2001 into

Sevenoaks district
, with 1,300 personnel working on the site in 2000.

In March 2006, QinetiQ sold the Fort Halstead site to Armstrong Kent LLP for an undisclosed sum,

Dstl announced that its facilities at Fort Halstead were to close following a review of operations at the site,[13][14] although delays in building new facilities at Porton Down[15] has meant Dstl finally left in October 2022 (taking eleven rather than the planned five years).[16]

In 2017, Armstrong Kent sold the site to Merseyside Pension Fund.[16] Current plans are for a mixed-use regeneration, with 450 new homes and a business campus, including QinetiQ.[16]

Distinguished former staff

See also

References

  1. ISBN 0710602383
    , p.8, 9.
  2. ^ a b c Ogley, Bob (12 April 2006). "Off the beaten track: Halstead". BBC. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
  3. ^ a b c Beanse, Alec; Gill, Roger. "The London Mobilisation Centres". victorianforts.co.uk. Victorian Forts and Artillery. Archived from the original on 14 January 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  4. ^ "FORT HALSTEAD". pastscape.org.uk. English Heritage. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  5. ^ a b Cocroft, Wayne D (2010). "FORT HALSTEAD, DUNTON GREEN, SEVENOAKS, KENT: A brief assessment of the role of Fort Halstead in Britain's early rocket programmes and the atomic bomb project" (PDF). english-heritage.org.uk. English Heritage. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  6. ^ 29177010-Encyclopedia-of-Weapons-of-World-War-II.
  7. ^ "A History of RAE Aberporth". www.rafaberporth.org.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Royal" Armament Research and Development Establishment Archived 20 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ISSN 0307-1235
    . Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  10. ^ Robert Verkaik (22 May 1996). "Innocent beyond doubt". The Independent. London.
  11. ^ "21 July suspect admits making bombs". The Guardian. 24 January 2007. Retrieved 20 February 2007.
  12. ^ "Fort Halstead". Archived from the original on 27 July 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  13. ^ "Kent's Fort Halstead research laboratory to close". BBC News. 17 June 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
  14. ^ "Defence Science and Technology Laboratory to relocate operations away from Fort Halstead" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
  15. ^ "Fort Halstead move to Porton Down delayed by a year". BBC News: Kent. 31 October 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  16. ^ a b c "JTP - Architects, Masterplanners and Placemakers". jtp.co.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  17. ISBN 0-7110-1855-3
    . Retrieved 21 May 2009 (extract only).
  18. ^ Stop-gap weapons of 1940:the concept of the aerial minefield. Archived 20 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12-05-2009.
  19. ^ gb 679710, Hugh Desmond Lucas & Ronald Alexander Newman, "Automatic electrical switching device", published 1952-09-24, issued 1952-09-03 
  20. ^ a b Mary Croarken, Computing in Britain During World War II Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine IEE.org. p6. Retrieved 12-05-2009.
  21. ISBN 0748407901
    .
  22. ^ Challens, John (28 October 2012). "Obituary: John Corner". The Independent.
  23. ISBN 978-3-540-27144-4
    . Amazon.com. Retrieved 12-05-2009.
  24. ^ Our History. AWE. Retrieved 12-05-2009.

General

  • Hamilton-Baillie, J.R.E, "Fort Halstead & the London Defence Positions", Fort (Fortress Study Group), 1977, (3), pp31–35

External links

51°18′42″N 0°08′58″E / 51.31171°N 0.14936°E / 51.31171; 0.14936

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