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St Helen's Fort is a Napoleonic-era coastal defence fortification located on the Isle of Wight in Hampshire waters. Built in the early nineteenth century as part of the extensive defensive works commissioned by the British government to counter the threat of French invasion, the fort exemplifies the military architecture of the Napoleonic Wars period. The structure comprises a substantial stone-built fort with casemented gun positions designed to protect the Solent approaches and the naval anchorage at Spithead. Its design reflects contemporary fortification principles, incorporating features typical of Palmerston-era coastal batteries, though it predates the later Palmerston Forts by several decades.
St Helen's Fort is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1017370. View the official record →
St Helen's Fort is a Napoleonic-era coastal defence fortification located on the Isle of Wight in Hampshire waters. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1017370.
St Helen's Fort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1017370.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Steyne Wood Battery (3 km), Puckpool mortar battery (3.9 km), Bowl barrow on Culver Down (4.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of St Helen's Fort's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
St Helen's Fort stands on Eocene claystone, bedrock that formed in the Eocene. The rock here is claystone.