Palmerston Forts Built on Portsdown Hill

1860s

In the 1860s, a chain of forts was built along the crest of Portsdown Hill as part of the Palmerston Fortifications, a national programme of defence works designed to protect Portsmouth and its naval dockyard from a landward attack by France. Fort Widley, Fort Southwick, Fort Purbrook, Fort Nelson and Fort Wallington formed a defensive line across the hill. The forts were built of brick and earth and were armed with heavy artillery. They were nicknamed 'Palmerston's follies' because the French invasion they were designed to resist never materialised.