A consultation document has been published by JPT architects regarding the development of the Fort Halstead site. This can be viewed below, or by visiting the JPT website. The PDF is graphic intensive, and at around 9 Mb may be…
This 17:40 minute long film from the Fort Halstead archive dates from 1961 and was filmed by the Armament Research and Development Establishment in association with the Ministry of Aviation Cine Film Service. It has recently been digitised by the…
Unlike many of the buildings around Fort Halstead, this structure was not built for any unique testing or evaluation purpose, but for the protection of the site. Constructed in the early years of the Second World War, this firewatchers post…
With a large number of plans and documents available in the archive, it’s possible to piece together the use of the site throughout the decades. Combining a site plan from 1986 and a building schedule from 1975, it’s possible to…
A curious Saturday evening online search revealed a postcard for sale. Neither the subject or the recipient were or particular interest, but the address from which the postcard was sent piqued my interest: Dear EJH, Having a fine time.Fun day…
Neill Griffiths O.B.E.
Constructed as part of the London Defence Scheme, the fort at Knockholt (also known as the Polhill Fort and latterly Fort Halstead) was part of an extensive earthwork defensive system constructed on the North Downs. There were a total of…
“The object of this book is to enable the officers concerned to become acquainted in as short a time as possible with the proposed arrangements for resisting an invasion on the line of the London Defence Positions, so that they…
A report by Wayne Cocroft, copyright English Heritage, 2010. This report can be viewed and downloaded from the originators website here.
This history forms part of a larger RARDE history written by the late Peter Baigent around 1991. Peter had a long and distinguished career in weapons design at Fort Halstead. We are very grateful to his family for giving permission…