Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Fort Pitt is a bastioned fort of 1819 subsequently converted to hospital use and then to a school. Proposals during the 1790s to defend the river Medway in conjunction with the improvements to Fort Amherst came to nothing but in 1805, stimulated by the threat of French invasion, work was commenced on the hill overlooking Rochester. This was a rebuilding of an 18th century 'Star Fort' on the site. The new fort was not completed until 1819. It was broadly contemporary with the works associated with Fort Clarence and had similarities of form. In 1812 two supporting towers: Delce and Gibraltar Towers were constructed on the flanks of the fort. The armament of the fort in 1819 amounted to nine 18pdr cannon mounted and one unmounted, four 18pdr carronades mounted with eighteen unmounted, three 10pdr mortars mounted and one unmounted. The armament was retained into the 1820s but in 1828 the fort became a hospital for 172 invalided soldiers. By 1847 an asylum for insane servicemen was constructed in an enclosed section of the fort and two years later the fort became a general military hospital. In 1860 Florence Nightingale started the first Army Medical School here while waiting for the completion of the school at Netley.

VAD Hospital at some time 1914-18.

Monument Types

• FORT (Post Medieval - 1819 AD to 1847 AD (between))
• HOSPITAL (Post Medieval to Modern - 1847 AD to 1920 AD? (between))
• GRAMMAR SCHOOL (Modern - 1927 AD to 1990 AD? (between))
• TECHNICAL COLLEGE (Modern - 1990 AD? to 2050 AD? (at some time))

Full description

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TQ 750 675. Fort Pitt. It was originally proposed to build a fort on this site in the 1790s to defend the river from Upnor to Rochester in conjunction with Fort Amherst (TQ 76 NE 58). In 1805 when there was a threat of invasion from France the Board of Ordnance drew up plans to build a fort. Following alterations to the original plans work was not completed until 1819 by which time two auxiliary towers were constructed on the east and west flanks of the fort and were named Delce and Gibraltar. The fort was intended to form part of a defensive system known as Brompton Lines (TQ 76 NE 58). The illustration card has a plan showing the layout of the fort. Fort Pitt's life as a defensive work was short lived, for in 1828 it became a depot for invalided soldiers and in 1847 an asylum for insane servicemen was constructed as a separate fenced off section of the fort. In 1879 the Gibraltar Tower to the north-east of the fort was demolished to make way for St Andrew's church. Delce Tower, to the west, was probably demolished shortly afterwards. In the early 1920's the hospital was closed and in 1927 the site was purchased by Kent Education Committee for conversion into the Chatham Technical School for Girls. The site was then occupied by the Medway College of Design. Today much of the old fort and hospital remain incorporated into the Medway Technical School for Girls, Medway College of Design and the Medway College Annex which was constructed on the southern part of the fort. (1)
General listing. (2)
Fort Pitt, situated on the boundary between Rochester and Chatham, was originally constructed in the 18th Century as a type of fort known as a `Star fort'. The fort had a hexagonal shape with six bastions going off at the angles protected by a series of ditches and outworks. Between 1805 and 1819 the fort was rebuilt forming a rough square with four bastions protruding at the corners and a large casemented bastion at the front to house artillery. The centre piece of the fort was a large brick tower or keep which would have been very similar to the tower at Fort Clarence. In 1847 the fort was turned into a depot for invalided soldiers and then in 1849 a general military hospital. In the 1920s the fort ceased to be a hospital and the moat was filled in and ground to the east levelled out. In 1927 the fort was converted into Chatham Technical School for Girls. The school incorporates many of the old hospital buildings. (3)

The school has become Fort Pitt Grammar School.

Watching brief on construction of new building. The lower courses of a rectangular brick base was found which would have been located at the western margin of the parade ground. Largely robbed out and function unknown.(4)

Fort Pitt was one of several new detached works, built in the Napoleonic period to provide advance defences for the dockyard and to deny the cross-Medway bridge at Rochester to the enemy. The other works were, Fort Clarence (TQ 76 NW 68) and the Delce (TQ 76 NW 366) and Gibraltar (TQ 76 NE 348) Towers, which flanked Fort Pitt [5]. This overview emphasises that much of the fort was obliterated by the construction of the various school buildings [5].

"Fort Pitt is a bastioned fort of 1819 subsequently converted to hospital use and then to a school.
Proposals during the 1790s to defend the river Medway in conjunction with the improvements to Fort Amherst came to nothing but in 1805, stimulated by the threat of French invasion, work was commenced on the hill overlooking Rochester. This was a rebuilding of an 18th century 'Star Fort' on the site. The new fort was not completed until 1819. It was broadly contemporary with the works associated with Fort Clarence and had similarities of form. In 1812 two supporting towers: Delce and Gibraltar Towers were constructed on the flanks of the fort. The armament of the fort in 1819 amounted to nine 18pdr cannon mounted and one unmounted, four 18pdr carronades mounted with eighteen unmounted, three 10pdr mortars mounted and one unmounted. The armament was retained into the 1820s but in 1828 the fort became a hospital for 172 invalided soldiers. By 1847 an asylum for insane servicemen was constructed in an enclosed section of the fort and two years later the fort became a general military hospital. In 1860 Florence Nightingale started the first Army Medical School here while waiting for the completion of the school at Netley." (6)

Elements of the fort's outer earthworks lie in the neighbouring Jackson Recreation Ground. (7)

An Archaeological Evaluation was conducted in December 2013 prior to planned construction of an extension to a University of the Creative Arts building. The counterscarp wall of the original dry moat of the Napoleonic fort was located in test pits 2 and 3. (8)

An evaluation in 2005 'demonstrated the location and nature of the ramparts’ construction and demolition. No signs of a tunnel were discovered, though one trench revealed a wall construction trench associated with the building of the fort.’ (9)

Fort Pitt was used as Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Hospital at some time 1914-1918.

Hazel Basford, 2004, Kent VAD - the work of voluntary aid detachments in Kent during the first World War (Unpublished document). SKE31644.

Wessex Archaeology, 2004, Proposed development at Fort Pitt, City Way, Chatham, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE52175.

Peter Kendall, 2006, Historic barracks in Medway (Unpublished document). SKE15939.

<1> Kent Arch Rev 47 1977 172-176 (KR Gulvin) (OS Card Reference). SKE45786.

<2> A Handbook of Kent's Defences 1540-1945 1977 12 (D Bennett) (OS Card Reference). SKE32802.

<3> The Medway Forts: A Short Guide 1976 7-8 (K R Gulvin) (OS Card Reference). SKE50429.

<4> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1996, Fort Pitt Grammar School, Chatham. Report on an Archaeological Watching Brief (Unpublished document). SWX6696.

<5> Victor Smith and Ron Crowdy, 1994, From Tudor Rose to Mushroom Cloud. The Gazetter of Defence Heritage Sites in the Kentish Part of the Thames Gateway. An Overview (Unpublished document). SKE12458.

<6> Victor Smith and Andrew Saunders, 2001, Kent's Defence Heritage (Unpublished document). SKE6956.

<7> English Heritage, 2008, Fort Pitt, Chatham, Kent: An Earthwork Analysis of Jackson Recreation Ground. Survey Report (Unpublished document). SKE15972.

<8> Wessex Archaeology, 2014, University for the Creative Arts, Rochester, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation Report (Unpublished document). SKE51992.

<9> Wessex Archaeology, 2005, City Way, Rochester, Kent, Report on Archaeological Evaluation (Unpublished document). SKE53730.

Sources and further reading

Related records

Related thematic articles

• The Defence of Kent (Thematic Essay)