4502 x 2990 px | 38,1 x 25,3 cm | 15 x 10 inches | 300dpi
Date de la prise de vue:
21 septembre 2011
Informations supplémentaires:
Tilbury Fort is on the north, Essex, bank of the River Thames in England and was built to defend London from attack from the sea, particularly during the Spanish Armada and the Anglo-Dutch Wars. The site is now cared for by English Heritage and opened to the public. The first permanent fort at Tilbury was a D-shaped blockhouse built in 1539 by Henry VIII and first called the 'Thermitage Bulwark', because it was on the site of a hermitage dissolved in 1536. The Tilbury blockhouse was designed to cross-fire with a similar structure at New Tavern, Gravesend. During the Armada campaign the fort was reinforced with earthworks and a palisade and there was a boom of ships' masts, chains and cables stretched across from Thames to Gravesend anchored to lighters. Furthermore, it was in nearby West Tilbury that Elizabeth I rallied her makeshift army as it awaited the Armada in 1588 The fort was held for Parliament during the English Civil War and despite suffering from neglect was never attacked by the Royalists. In 1651 its garrison was a governor, a lieutenant, an ensign, four corporals, one drummer, a master gunner, 16 matrosses (gunner's mates) and 44 soldiers. After the English Civil war Charles II was exiled in Holland, where he was influenced by European advances in military architecture. Following the disastrous 1667 Dutch attack on the English fleet moored on the nearby Medway, Charles II set in motion the re-fortification of the site by employing Dutchman Sir Bernard de Gomme, who had been engineer in the Royalist army during the civil war and who followed
