Nothe Fort

Museum

What is recorded here

Nothe Fort, a coastal defense in Weymouth, Dorset, England, was built between 1860 and 1872 by the Royal Engineers to protect Portland and Weymouth Harbours. Shaped like a D, it features bomb-proof casemates and deep magazines. The fort was abandoned in 1956 and purchased by the local council in 1961. It is now a…

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Who built and held it

A contractor began levelling the peninsula and building a sea wall in 1860. After the firm ran into money trouble, 26 Company Royal Engineers took over in 1862 and completed the £117,049 fort in 1872. Number 2 Battery Royal Artillery installed its first heavy guns.

Attack, change and use

Muzzle-loading cannon gave way to three six-inch naval guns, and shell hoists linked the magazines to the ramparts. From 1938 the fort stored anti-aircraft ammunition. In July 1940 it fired warning shots at two darkened vessels, which switched on their lights and proved to carry Channel Islands refugees.

What survives

The D-shaped fort retains its deep magazines, bomb-proof gun rooms, ramparts, gateway and steps once used to haul ammunition from the quay. After failed hotel work and vandalism, the Weymouth Civic Society began restoration in 1980; original guns and later wartime fittings now form part of the museum.

Why it mattered

Nothe guarded the naval harbour through changing weapons, then became an anti-aircraft store and later a Cold War emergency shelter. Volunteer repair saved those layers after military abandonment, leaving Weymouth a fort that explains defence from heavy Victorian cannon to nuclear planning.