| Part 1 - The Journey Out |  |
| Part 2 - Knock John Fort |  |
| Part 3 - Shivering Sands Fort |  |
| Part 4 - Red Sands Fort |  |
| Part 5 - Nore Fort (remains) |  |
If you look out northwards out into the Thames estuary from the north Kent coast, on a clear day, two clumps of rectangular blocks can be observed. These are the Shivering Sands and Red Sands offshore forts that were built during the Second World War to counter attack enemy planes that were relying on the safety of the Thames estuary to come in to bomb London.
On a really clear day, an even stranger apparition appears way out on the horizon - seemingly there's a pagoda out there in the estuary! This is in fact Knock John naval fort, again built during the Second World War to protect the important shipping line from enemy ships and aircraft.
Join with me to take a closer look at these alien looking structures.
| Part 1 - The Journey Out | |
| Part 2 - Knock John Fort | |
| Part 3 - Shivering Sands Fort | |
| Part 4 - Red Sands Fort | |
| Part 5 - Nore Fort (remains) | |
Firstly, thanks go to Bayblast who are the company who provided the transportation and who went the extra mile (well a few actually) to take us to Knock John Fort, something not normally included in their schedule. As well as the forts, they arrange trips out to other features on the north Kent coast including seal spotting trips. If you've never been on a RHIB before - I highly recommend these trips!
"The Maunsell Sea Forts", by Frank Turner. This book and many other self published books, videos and photographs can be found at this site.
This page has many historic pictures and diagrams of the forts.
