"REIGATE FORT" - Reigate Hill, Surrey, UK
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Hard Oiler
N 51° 15.265 W 000° 11.965
30U E 695422 N 5681843
Reigate Fort, built in the 1890’s, was one of 13 installations designed to protect London from the threat of invasion from France.
Waymark Code: WMYQ3
Location: United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/15/2006
Views: 169
These installations were not forts in the conventional sense as the tactical thinking of the time was to disperse enemy firepower over a wide area. So instead of conventional forts with large gun installations, Mobilization Centres were built which housed weaponry and equipment to supply entrenched positions all along the 70 miles of North Downs protecting London.
The mobilization centres were closed in 1906 when confidence in British Naval supremacy had been regained and Germany rather than France represented a greater threat.
The mobilization centre at Reigate was used during the second world war for billeting Canadian forces and was subsequently used as a scout camp.
Now owned by the National Trust and undergoing restoration work. The earthworks have recently been cleared and the fort is scheduled to be reopened to the public soon although it is still possible to access the area from a footpath at the west end.
