Fort Pitt, Chatham
Fort Pitt is a large early 19th-century fort that was built to defend the naval installations at Chatham. Most of the fort’s buildings have been demolished and its interior is now occupied by a school and college, though two listed buildings and a water pump remain. Despite the losses, most of the fort’s outline can be traced and extensive lengths of brick walls remain, although to the east and south, traces of the fort’s outer ditch have been removed. There are earthwork remains from several periods on this site and those associated with Fort Pitt can be seen to extend several metres into Jackson Recreation Ground, all along its eastern boundary. These earthworks include traces of an earthen bank associated with the ditch surrounding the fort and a substantial earthwork bank leading towards Delce Tower. Several other 19th-century features were also recorded, but these were probably not associated with the fort. In the 1920s, the park was substantially remodelled with the creation of a large sports field terraced into the centre of the recreation ground and a smaller terrace, now occupied by a playground. The recreation ground was incorporated into Chatham’s wider Second World War anti-invasion defences and evidence of this, both in the form of earthworks and structural remains, can still be traced on the ground.
An investigation of the earthwork remains was undertaken by the Archaeological Survey & Investigation Team at the request of English Heritage’s Heritage Protection department in order to inform advice about the possible designation of the remains of Fort Pitt. We were able to establish the extent, condition and precise location of earthworks directly associated with the Napoleonic Fort Pitt, as well as providing a broader historical understanding and assessment of this section of Chatham’s defences. In addition the analysis of the earthwork remains has contributed to the on-going research in support of a potential application for Chatham to become a candidate World Heritage Site.
For further information on the work undertaken at Jackson Recreation Ground, please contact Magnus Alexander magnus.alexander@english-heritage.org.uk at English Heritage’s Cambridge office, (01223) 582700.
A paper copy of the report on the earthwork remains on Jackson Recreation Ground can be ordered online (ref. RDRS 5-2008) or an electronic version (2.8MB) can be downloaded by clicking on the image. This document requires Adobe Acrobat Viewer to display. This is free software available from Adobe. Download Acrobat here.
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