Gravesend Blockhouse (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Cranes Bulwark; Le Grene

In the civil parish of Gravesham.
In the historic county of Kent.
Modern Authority of Kent.
1974 county of Kent.

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ64997442
Latitude 51.44463° Longitude 0.37277°

Gravesend Blockhouse has been described as a certain Artillery Fort, and also as a Chain Tower although is doubtful that it was such.

There are masonry footings remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Gravesend Blockhouse, built in 1539, was situated on a "piece of land called Le Grene," to the north of the Terrace, at the west side of the Terrace Garden and Pier. It survived until 1834. Some brick walls of the blockhouse found during excavation 1973-4 are to be consolidated and made visible to the public in the riverside garden of the Berni Inn. A plan by John Romer, made in 1715, shows the full extent of the building; it had a curved front facing the river, with two angled faces on the landward side and a curved bastion on the W side. Gravesend Blockhouse was one of five built by Henry VIII on the Thames Estuary in 1539. In the 18th century, the blockhouse was converted into a magazine, and the building was demolished in the mid-19th century. The western two-thirds of the semi-circular front wall with its gunports is consolidated and displayed. The remainder of the site was under the car park to the E and road to the S. (PastScape)

Depicted on the 1588 Thamesis Descriptio map as a feature with 4 arrow shaped bastions and with a pier or boom into the river. No artillery pieces are portrayed for the fort itself although the 'pier' seems to be portrayed with several pieces. It may be the map is a plan of proposed rather than actual structures, the 'pier' features in particular seems a difficult and unlikely construction.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1005120, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number ke379
English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 413783.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) TQ 67 SW 5.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- British Library online gallery
  http://www.discovergravesham.co.uk/gravesend/the-gravesend-blockhouse.html
  http://www.medwaylines.com/gravesendblockhouse.htm
  Kent History Forum
  Thames Defence Heritage
Books
- Harrington, Peter, 2007, The Castles of Henry VIII (Oxford: Osprey) p. 8, 17-18, 28, 38, 42, 44, 60
  Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Kent (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 45
  Smith, Victor and Green, Eric, 2000, Defending London’s River 3 - The Gravesend Blockhouse (New Tavern Fort Project in association with Gravesham Leisure)
  Saunders, Andrew, 1997, Channel Defences (London; Batsford/English Heritage) p. 49, 121
  Kent, Peter, 1988, Fortifications of East Anglia (Lavenham: Ternence Dalton)
  Saunders, A.D., 1985, Tilbury Fort Essex (London: English Heritage) p. 4
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 236
  Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1982, The history of the King's Works Vol. 4: 1485-1660 (part 2) (London) p. 602-3
  Smithers, David Waldron, 1980, Castles in Kent (Chatham)
  Bennett, D., 1977, A Handbook of Kent's defences from 1540 until 1945 p. 9
  Newman, John, 1969, Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald (Harmondsworth) p. 303
  Cruden, R.P., 1843, The history of the town of Gravesend in the county of Kent, and of the port of London p. 161-3, 509-16 online copy
  Hasted, Edward, 1797 (2edn), The history and topographical survey of the county of Kent Vol. 3 p. 319- (slight) online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Cherry, J., 1978, 'Post-medieval Britain in 1977' Post-Medieval Archaeology Vol. 12 p. 109-10
  Thompson, D. and Smith, V., 1977, 'The excavation of the Gravesend blockhouse, 1975-76' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 93 p. 153-77
  Thompson, D.G., 1976, 'The Tudor blockhouse at the Clarendon Royal Hotel, Gravesend: interim report' Kent Archaeological review Vol. 45 p. 116-18 online copy
  Smith, V.T.C., 1974, 'The Artillery Defences at Gravesend' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 89 p. 141-168
  Crookshank, A.A., 1965, Royal Engineers Journal Vol. 23 p. 207-16
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Thamesis Descriptio Anno 1588 online copy
  Gairdner, J. and Brodie, R.H. (eds), 1896, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII Vol. 15 p. 131 no. 323, 324 online copy
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 250
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1909, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 4 p. 48, online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Kent County Council, December 2004, Kent Historic Towns Survey (Kent County Council and English Heritage)
  Saunders, A. and Smith, V., 2001, Kent's Defence Heritage Gazetteer (Kent County Council) Part 1: KD128

Data >	PastScape	County HER	Scheduling
Maps >	OS getamap	Streetmap	Old-Maps	Where's the path
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	EarthTools
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	Flashearth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio