Fort Victoria (Isle of Wight)

Fort Victoria
Isle of Wight, England
Fort Victoria's Casemates. The brickwork in the foreground shows the foundations of the former barracks.
Fort Victoria
Coordinates	50°42′24″N 1°31′16″W / 50.706667°N 1.521111°W / 50.706667; -1.521111
Type	Palmerston Fort
Site information
Owner	Isle of Wight Council
Site history
Built	1850s
Materials	Brick, concrete

Fort Victoria is a former military fort on the Isle of Wight, England (grid reference SZ339898), built to guard the Solent. The earliest fort on the site was a coastal fort known as Sharpenode Bulwark built in 1545-7 by Henry VIII, but these defences had fallen into disrepair by the 17th century. Fort Victoria was built in the 1850s. It was a brick-built triangular fort with two seaward batteries meeting at a right angle. It remained in use until 1962. Parts of the fort were subsequently demolished, and what remains has become part of Fort Victoria Country Park.

Fort Victoria is situated on Sconce Point west of Yarmouth. Its position overlooks the whole of the Needles Passage and approaches to Yarmouth, and is almost opposite Hurst Castle on the mainland. Around 1 kilometer to the southwest lies Fort Albert.

The earliest fort on the site was Sharpenode Bulwark (also Sharpnode or Sharpnore) which was constructed in 1545-7 as part of Henry VIII's coastal defences. It was about 700 metres east from an earlier fortification known as Worsley's Tower. Sharpenode Bulwark was a square earthwork with two angle bastions. It fell into disrepair and was repaired or even replaced in 1587 by George Carey Captain of the Island. This became known as Carey's Sconce. The defences are said to have fallen into disrepair by 1623, and at the beginning of the 19th century only ruins remained.

Fort Victoria was built in the 1850s. It is a brick-built triangular fort with concrete gun-floors. It has two seaward batteries meeting at a right angle. It became a functioning part of the new batteries on the heights above. At the same time a pier was built to serve the fort. It effectively became a military barracks and storehouse until rearmed with more modern armament in the 1880s. During the First and Second World Wars the fort saw service as a landing point and for storage. Between the wars it saw little use with the royal engineers leaving in 1920.