Friday, January 12

Palmerston Sea Forts (and surrounding environs)

(And one little link to London ;-)

What else do I have stored up for you in Google Reader? (Which, btw, I read through again today like I explained in the last post, (composed yesterday) and I still like it.) How about Google Sightseeing's post on the Palmerston Sea Forts? A taste:

Back in the 1850s, Britain was worried that France would try and invade, so Lord Palmerston (the Prime Minister of the time) decided to build the Palmerston Forts to defend Portsmouth's dockland, four of which were built out at sea.

Note Wikipedia link in excerpt.

Check this out:

[Part of the Portsmouth defenses] were intended to prevent a hostile force landing further along the coast, approaching Portsmouth from the mainland, taking the tactical high ground to the north of the dockyard. As such, the forts are designed so that all of their main weapons face inland, protecting Portsmouth from the rest of England.

Portsmouth looks to be about 70 miles southwest of London. Check out the three major harbors.

Macon will especially be interested in this, having read exhaustively on the Napoleonic Wars.

Almost unrelated thought: Why don't I think of London as more of a port, as being closer to the sea? It looks so close on this map, say about 15 miles? Just can't make my brain do it.

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