Site Records

SiteName: Grain Fort

East of Green Lane
Grain, Kent
OS Grid Ref: TQ891767

Subbrit site visit June 1999

Diagonally opposite the entrance to this room is the issue hatch from the main magazine with the wording 'issuing hatch' still discernible on the wooden surround. The hatch itself is missing and is to be found leaning against a wall in one of the other tunnels. The main passage now turns sharply to the right where there is another junction. To the right a doorway leads into a small shifting lobby with a lighting recess high in the wall lighting both the shifting lobby and the magazine. There is evidence of wooden shelving on the walls and a second doorway that leads into the main magazine. The remains of the two wooden doors lie on the floor in the shifting lobby with some lettering just discernible. The magazine is of cavity wall construction and there are a number of openings into the cavities with a wooden framework that originally supported long thin wooden doors. The magazine measures 6 metres by 12 metres with an arched roof approximately 3 metres high in the centre. There is a second lighting recess at the far end; both recesses have a copper lined conical flue. There is a wood lined sloping shaft approximately .25 metre square in the ceiling with a pile of fine soil on the floor beneath it.

Returning through the shifting lobby there is a wider (2.5 metre) passage that is almost blocked with a large amount of material that has come through an opening in the roof presumably made when the buildings above were demolished. It is possible to squeeze through the infill that hides another lighting recess on the right hand side. After a few feet a narrow lighting passage comes in from the right and the main passages continues to a 'T' junction after 15 metres. At the 'T' junction there are small arms left and right with blocked loopholes for defending the inner ditch, each running for 7 metres with a wall half way along. At this point was one of five caponiers across the inner ditch but the entrance has been very neatly walled across, probably long before the demolition of the keep above. From the infill to the end of the passage, including both arms of the 'T' the floor is strewn with rubble. All other passages are clean and free of rubble and surprisingly also free of graffiti - but for how long?

The lighting passages turns through a 'Z' bend, where there is an open drain in the middle of the passage which widens out to 1.5 metres as it runs along the west wall of the main magazine. There are steps up to the lighting recess for the shifting lobby/magazine. After 18 metres this passage comes to a 'T' junction, right leading back to Caponier No 2 and left sloping downwards to a second chicane position. The pit is partially water filled and is bridged by an unsafe wooden plank. Again a remnant of the decking and the pivot and counter balance remain in situ. The passage widens to 2.5 metres after the drawbridge and is blocked by infill after 10 metres. There is evidence of electric lighting (metal conduit and fittings) throughout the tunnel system.

In their recent report on fortifications at Grain the RCHME highlights the potential hazards should local children get into the tunnels. It would appear from their report that they did not enter the tunnels, presumably because the hole was too small at the time. Although this section of the tunnels is not extensive and does not give access to the rest of the network, the two chicane pits and the open drain could certainly present a hazard to local children exploring without adequate lighting although the structure of the tunnels themselves is sound and there is little danger of anything collapsing.

On a subsequent visit for surveying and photography a bat was seen on the wing so it would be illegal to seal the hole permanently. On first examination the smooth tunnel walls seemed an unsuitable roost for bats but the wall cavities might prove more suitable, so a secure lockable grille on the gaping hole would seem a sensible precaution especially because of the close proximity of a large housing estate.

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