Fort Gilkicker

Fort Gilkicker is a historic Palmerston fort built at the eastern end of Stokes Bay, Gosport, Hampshire England to dominate the key anchorage of Spithead. It was erected between 1863 and 1871 as a semi-circular arc with 22 casemates, to be armed with five twelve-inch guns, seventeen ten-inch guns and five nine-inch guns. The actual installed armament rather differed from this. In 1902 the RML guns were replaced by two 9.2-inch and two six-inch BL guns, and before the First World War the walls were further strengthened with substantial earthwork embankments. The fort was disarmed in 1956 and used for storage until 1999. On 28th July 2022, the fort was sold at auction for just under £1.4 million and planning has been granted for 26 homes. Since then a massive restoration project has been underway. Fort Gilkicker is a Grade II* Listed Building. Gillkicker Point, is clearly marked on Morden's maps, at "Spit Head": a headland (not a water course) in the Solent. (In recent years, the joined up word 'Spithead' has been applied to the eastern Solent.)