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Formed in 1975 (and thus celebrating its first half-century this year), the Fortress Study Group (FSG) is devoted to the study and preservation of artillery fortifications.
While early examples of these structures are found in Norwich and Southampton, it was during the Tudor period that large-scale construction really got under way. Some 1,100 places across the British Isles were fortified during the Civil Wars of the mid-17th century. When peace returned, focus shifted from town defences to ports and estuaries because of the increasing risk of attack from Continental enemies. The first half of the 18th century was dominated by fort-building in Scotland, and further fortifications were built prior to and during the Napoleonic Wars.
The 19th century and the Industrial Revolution resulted in an arms race, as the range of available artillery increased, making previous generations of fortification obsolete. Thus, the huge building programme of the ‘Palmerston Follies’, intended to counter a new French threat, which were arguably outdated before they were completed. The 20th-century legacy consists of First and Second World War defences (including the ubiquitous pillbox) and Cold War anti-nuclear structures.
The FSG is international in scope, with study tours planned to Crete and Belgium this year. Webinars are held twice a month, and this year’s annual conference (in September) will consider ‘Fortifications at Risk’ and their conservation. The FSG also produces an annual peer-reviewed research journal, Fort, and three editions a year of the Casemate magazine.
FSG is one of a substantial number of societies devoted to some aspect of military history, armaments, and architecture, and it collaborates with similar groups around the world. Many of these are members of the International Fortress Council, whose annual conference was hosted by the FSG in Chatham in 2023. Another such joint project is the British Civil Wars Memorial Database (with the Battlefields Trust), a record of memorials to the personalities from the Civil Wars of 1639 to 1660.
The FSG awards grants to projects that further its aims, especially in education. An example is the recent grant of £1,500 given to the Friends of Shoreham Fort, in West Sussex, who turned a previously vandalised area into an air-raid shelter, giving visitors a realistic taste of civilian life in Second World War Britain.
Further information: http://www.fortressstudygroup.org
Text: Christopher Catling / Images: Mervyn Rands (CC BY-SA 4.0); FSG/Quarmby Collection; Alistair Graham Kerr
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