Fort Halstead: Difference between revisions

'''Fort Halstead''' iswas a research site of the [[DstlDefence Science and Technology Laboratory]] (Dstl), an [[executive agency]] of the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|UK Ministry of Defence]]. It is situated on the crest of the [[Kent]]ish [[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''').<ref>Force V: The history of Britain's airborne deterrent, by Andrew Brookes. Jane's Publishing Co Ltd; First Edition 1 Jan. 1982, {{ISBN|0710602383}}, p.8, 9.</ref><ref name="BBC">{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/content/articles/2006/04/11/off_beaten_track_halstead_feature.shtml| last=Ogley| first=Bob| date=12 April 2006| title=Off the beaten track: Halstead| publisher=BBC| access-date=19 February 2007}}</ref>

Fort Halstead formed a part of the [[London Defence Positions]], a scheme devised by [[Lieutenant General (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant General]] [[Edward Bruce Hamley|Sir Edward Bruce Hamley]] and implemented by the [[Secretary of State for War]], [[Edward Stanhope]], who announced the plan to [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] in 1889. The scheme envisaged a line of [[Trench warfare|entrenchment]]s which would be dug in the event of war to protect the southern and eastern approaches to the capital. Supporting these were to be thirteen simple [[fort]]s, known as "Mobilisation Centres", which would contain the tools, stores and ammunition for the men of the [[Volunteer Force (Great Britain)|Volunteer Force]], who were tasked with digging the entrenchments and manning them against any invaders.<ref name= "VictorianForts">{{cite web |url=http://www.victorianforts.co.uk/redan/lmc.htm |title=The London Mobilisation Centres |last1=Beanse |first1=Alec |last2=Gill |first2=Roger |website=victorianforts.co.uk |publisher=Victorian Forts and Artillery |access-date=28 November 2014 |archive-date=14 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114231956/http://www.victorianforts.co.uk/redan/lmc.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The growing superiority of the [[Royal Navy]] , and the signing of Thethe [[Entente Cordiale]] with France, resulted in the reduced likelihood of an invasion and the London Defence Scheme was officially abandoned in March 1906. Many of the Mobilisation Centres were quickly sold; however, Fort Halstead and a few others were retained, perhaps to facilitate the dispersal of the stores removed from the other sites. After the outbreak of the [[First World War]], the London Defence Scheme was revived and many of the planned entrenchments were actually dug to form an inland [[stop line]].<ref name= "VictorianForts"/>

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 [[Army Reserve (United Kingdom)|Territorial Army]], [[Boy Scouts]], [[Girl Guides]], and accommodation of refugees.<ref name ="Cocroft">{{cite web |url=http://services.english-heritage.org.uk/ResearchReportsPdfs/049_2010WEB.pdf |title=FORT HALSTEAD, DUNTON GREEN, SEVENOAKS, KENT: A brief assessment of the role of Fort Halstead in Britain’sBritain's early rocket programmes and the atomic bomb project |last1=Cocroft |first1=Wayne D |year=2010 |website=english-heritage.org.uk |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=28 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108011350/http://services.english-heritage.org.uk/ResearchReportsPdfs/049_2010WEB.pdf |archive-date=8 November 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1938, Fort Halstead became the home of the Projectile Development Establishment, which was continuing work on [[solid fuelled rocket]]s that had started at [[Royal Arsenal]] in [[Woolwich]] two years earlier. Under the direction of Dr [[Alwyn Crow]], work was mainly on rockets that could be used as [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft weapon]]s. In connection with this research, over eighty new buildings were constructed in and around the fort.<ref name ="Cocroft"/>

The work at Halstead resulted in the 7-inch [[Unrotated Projectile]] used on ships of the Royal Navy, and a 3-inch version that was operated by the British Army in hundreds of [[Z Battery|Z Batteries]] for the air defence of the United Kingdom. Further developments were the [[RP-3]] air-to-surface anti-tank rocket and the [[Mattress (rocket)|Mattress]] and [[Land Mattress]] surface-to-surface bombardment systems.<ref name ="Bishop">Bishop,{{Cite Chrisbook (2002), [https|url=http://archive.org/streamdetails/tractors-29177010-Encyclopedia-of-Weapons-of-World-War-II/ |title=29177010-Encyclopedia-of-Weapons-of-World-War-II#page/n173/mode/2up ''The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II''], Metrobooks, {{ISBN|978-1586637620}} (p. 176)</ref>

Two departments, the "Research Department" and the "Design Department", were established in 1922 at [[Royal Arsenal|Woolwich Arsenal]]. During the [[Second World War]], the Design Department moved to Fort Halstead, followed by the Research Department. It is believed that [[Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom|Britain's development]] of the [[atomic bomb]], hidden under the name '[[High Explosive Research]]' ("HER") was initially based at Fort Halstead, where the first atomic bomb was developed under the directorship of [[William George Penney]],<ref name="BBC"/> 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]].<ref name="BBC"/> In 1950, it is thought that the "'HER"' research was moved to a new site at the [[Atomic Weapons Establishment]], [[Aldermaston]] in [[Berkshire]].

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.

In 2017, scientists from the Forensic Explosives Laboratory at Fort Halstead examined the wreckage of the aircraft from the [[2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash|crash of a Polish Air Force Tu-154]] in 2010, for traces of explosives, after being engaged by the Polish government.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Farmer, |first1=Ben; |last2=Day, |first2=Matthew (|date=2017-02-27 February 2017). "|title=MoD experts to investigate Polish leader's plane crash blamed on 'Russian aggression'". ''|language=en-GB |work=The Daily Telegraph''. Telegraph Media Group Ltd. Retrieved 28 February 2017. |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/27/mod-experts-investigate-polish-leaders-plane-crash-blamed-russian/ |access-date=2023-06-28 |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>

|archive-date = 28 September 2011}}</ref> although delays in building new facilities at [[Porton Down]]<ref>{{Cite news|date=2013-10-31|title=Fort Halstead move to Porton Down delayed by a year|language=en-GB|work=BBC News: Kent|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-24760400|access-date=2021-12-24}}</ref> meanhas meant Dstl isfinally notleft expectedin toOctober leave2022 until(taking 2022eleven rather than the planned five years).<ref name=":0" />

In 2017, Armstrong Kent sold the site to Merseyside Pension Fund.<ref name=":0" /> Current plans are for a mixmixed-use regeneration, with 700450 new homes and a business campus, including QinetiQ.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.jtp.co.uk/projects/community-planning/fort-halstead|title=JTP - Architects, Masterplanners and Placemakers|website=jtp.co.uk|language=en|access-date=2019-01-15}}</ref>

*[[Douglas Hartree|Dr Douglas Hartree]],<ref name=Hartree>[[Mary Croarken]], [http://iee.org/OnComms/pn/History/HistoryWk_Computing_in_Britain.pdf ''Computing in Britain During World War II''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928003326/http://www.iee.org/OnComms/pn/History/HistoryWk_Computing_in_Britain.pdf |date=28 September 2007 }} IEE.org. p6. Retrieved 12-05-2009.</ref> after whom the [[Hartree]] unit of atomic energy is named, and the [[Hartree–Fock|Hartree–Fock method]] of approximating n-body wavefunctions

*Dr J.W. Maccoll,<ref name=Maccoll>{{cite book|last=Davis|first=E. A.|title=Nevill Mott|date=17 March 1998 |publisher=Taylor and Francis|isbn=0748407901|page=36}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Challens|first=John|title=Obituary: John Corner|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-john-corner-1330514.html|newspaper=The Independent|date=28 October 2012}}</ref> of Taylor-Maccoll theory of supersonic flow over a cone

*[https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/49-2010/FortHalsteadDuntonGreenSevenoaksKent_AbriefassessmentoftheroleofFortHalsteadinBritain’searlyrocketprogrammesandtheatomicbomb Comprehensive historical review] by [[EnglishHistoric HeritageEngland]]