Michael Wright's Pictures of Fort Nelson

Parade Ground and Mortars at Fort Nelson, Fareham.

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Fort Nelson, Hampshire

Killing Field - View of Southwick from gun position

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Fort Nelson

Killing Field - Portsmouth seen from firing position

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Fort Nelson

Killing Field - View of Fareham seen from Fort gun

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Fort Nelson

Shells for Mallet's Mortar

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Fort Nelson

Mallet's Mortar

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Fort Nelson

A picture of Fort Nelson

Mallet's Mortar was built sometime between 1855 1857 but never used in action due to failures during live testing. It required a crane to load the mortar shells shown stacked near it. The size & scale of this weapon may be judged by the children playing near it

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Fort Nelson

Ramparts + 64 pound RML gun

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Fort Nelson

Ramparts + 64 pound RML gun

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Fort Nelson

Parade Ground and Ramparts

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Fort Nelson

Russian Licorne, which has damage from Crimean war on the barrel

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Fort Nelson

General view of Fort Nelson

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Fort Nelson, Fareham, Hampshire

Entrance

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Fort Nelson

North Mortar Battery Tunnel

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Fort Nelson

North Mortar Battery

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Fort Nelson

North Mortar Battery

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Fort Nelson

A picture of Fort Nelson

Mortar batteries, of which North battery is shown, were hidden underground inside the fort, with only a small aperture to fire through, allowing defenders to lob projectiles in relative safety, but making it nearly impossible for any attacker to hit these defences. The mortars shown are 13-inch iron mortars, with a range of about 1000 yards these were intended to prevent attackers from ever reaching the fort by killing them at a distance

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Fort Nelson

A picture of Fort Nelson

To defend and clear the ditch if attackers managed to get into it there are Carponiers jutting out from the main ramparts. These carponiers contain guns to fire shot along the ditch; the 32 pounder smooth bore is an example of this. There are also firing positions at right angles to the carponiers to allow defenders to shoot any who managed to survive in the ditch and get near the defending guns.

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Fort Nelson

North Carponier view of the ditch from gun firing position

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Fort Nelson

A picture of Fort Nelson

Should attackers reach the fort it is surrounded by a deep dry ditch to prevent any direct attack upon the fort walls. The main defence of this ditch is from the Firing Steps, which are hidden from view of an enemy standing on the opposite side of the ditch. The defenders could load their muskets safely protected by the walls, step up onto the firing steps, shoot and then step down to reload, their place being taken by another defender

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Fort Nelson