Fort Halstead

{{Short description|British military research site}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} [[File:Fort Halstead map.jpg|thumb|Map of the area of Kent north of the town of Sevenoaks showing Fort Halstead]] [[File:Boundary Fence, Fort Halstead.jpg|thumb|Fort Halstead former MOD establishment in Kent UK, viewed in 2011. At intervals there is a projection in the fence line, this is to allow those guards inside to get a better view along the outside of the fence.]]

'''Fort Halstead''' was a research site of the [[Defence Science and Technology Laboratory]] (Dstl), an [[executive agency]] of the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|UK Ministry of Defence]]. It is situated on the crest of the [[Kent]]ish [[North Downs]], overlooking the town of [[Sevenoaks]], southeast of [[London]]. Originally constructed in 1892 as part of a ring of fortresses around London, Fort Halstead was to be staffed by volunteers in the event of a crisis.

The base became home to the '''Projectile Development Establishment''', the [[Ministry of Supply]] and later was the headquarters of the '''Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment''' ('''RARDE''').<ref>Force V: The history of Britain's airborne deterrent, by Andrew Brookes. Jane's Publishing Co Ltd; First Edition 1 Jan. 1982, {{ISBN|0710602383}}, p.8, 9.</ref><ref name="BBC">{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/content/articles/2006/04/11/off_beaten_track_halstead_feature.shtml| last=Ogley| first=Bob| date=12 April 2006| title=Off the beaten track: Halstead| publisher=BBC| access-date=19 February 2007}}</ref>

==Design and construction== Fort Halstead formed a part of the [[London Defence Positions]], a scheme devised by [[Lieutenant General (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant General]] [[Edward Bruce Hamley|Sir Edward Bruce Hamley]] and implemented by the [[Secretary of State for War]], [[Edward Stanhope]], who announced the plan to [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] in 1889. The scheme envisaged a line of [[Trench warfare|entrenchment]]s which would be dug in the event of war to protect the southern and eastern approaches to the capital. Supporting these were to be thirteen simple [[fort]]s, known as "Mobilisation Centres", which would contain the tools, stores and ammunition for the men of the [[Volunteer Force (Great Britain)|Volunteer Force]], who were tasked with digging the entrenchments and manning them against any invaders.<ref name= "VictorianForts">{{cite web |url=http://www.victorianforts.co.uk/redan/lmc.htm |title=The London Mobilisation Centres |last1=Beanse |first1=Alec |last2=Gill |first2=Roger |website=victorianforts.co.uk |publisher=Victorian Forts and Artillery |access-date=28 November 2014 |archive-date=14 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114231956/http://www.victorianforts.co.uk/redan/lmc.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Putting these plans into action in 1890, the [[War Office]] purchased land at [[Halstead, Kent]], on high ground near the town of [[Sevenoaks]]. Delayed by a shortage of funds, the [[polygonal fort]] was constructed between 1895 and 1897; it featured vaulted barrack [[casemates]] on the west side and a [[Magazine (artillery)|magazine]] on the east.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=407330 |title=FORT HALSTEAD |website=pastscape.org.uk |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=28 November 2014 }}</ref> An earthen [[Defensive wall|rampart]] with positions for light [[field artillery]] pieces and [[machine gun]]s was surrounded by a [[Ditch (fortification)|ditch]] with a concrete [[revetment]] on the [[Scarp (fortification)|scarp]] face. A [[cottage]] was built for a caretaker, who was responsible for maintenance and security in peacetime.<ref name= "VictorianForts"/>

==History as a defensive work== The growing superiority of the [[Royal Navy]], and the signing of the [[Entente Cordiale]] with France, resulted in the reduced likelihood of an invasion and the London Defence Scheme was officially abandoned in March 1906. Many of the Mobilisation Centres were quickly sold; however, Fort Halstead and a few others were retained, perhaps to facilitate the dispersal of the stores removed from the other sites. After the outbreak of the [[First World War]], the London Defence Scheme was revived and many of the planned entrenchments were actually dug to form an inland [[stop line]].<ref name= "VictorianForts"/>

Fort Halstead seems to have reverted to its intended role at this time; in 1915, a laboratory was built inside the fort for the inspection of ammunition. In 1921, the fort was sold to a retired [[colonel]], who took up residence in the laboratory and let out the cottages. The rest of the site was used as a campsite for the [[Army Reserve (United Kingdom)|Territorial Army]], [[Scouting Movement|Boy Scouts]], [[Girl Guides]], and accommodation of refugees.<ref name ="Cocroft">{{cite web |url=http://services.english-heritage.org.uk/ResearchReportsPdfs/049_2010WEB.pdf |title=FORT HALSTEAD, DUNTON GREEN, SEVENOAKS, KENT: A brief assessment of the role of Fort Halstead in Britain's early rocket programmes and the atomic bomb project |last1=Cocroft |first1=Wayne D |year=2010 |website=english-heritage.org.uk |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=28 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108011350/http://services.english-heritage.org.uk/ResearchReportsPdfs/049_2010WEB.pdf |archive-date=8 November 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Rocket research== In 1938, Fort Halstead became the home of the Projectile Development Establishment, which was continuing work on [[solid fuelled rocket]]s that had started at [[Royal Arsenal]] in [[Woolwich]] two years earlier. Under the direction of [[Alwyn Crow]], work was mainly on rockets that could be used as [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft weapon]]s. In connection with this research, over eighty new buildings were constructed in and around the fort.<ref name ="Cocroft"/>

The work at Halstead resulted in the 7-inch [[Unrotated Projectile]] used on ships of the Royal Navy, and a 3-inch version that was operated by the British Army in hundreds of [[Z Battery|Z Batteries]] for the air defence of the United Kingdom. Further developments were the [[RP-3]] air-to-surface anti-tank rocket and the [[Mattress (rocket)|Mattress]] and [[Land Mattress]] surface-to-surface bombardment systems.<ref name="Bishop">{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/tractors-29177010-Encyclopedia-of-Weapons-of-World-War-II |title=29177010-Encyclopedia-of-Weapons-of-World-War-II}}</ref>

In 1940, Fort Halstead became vulnerable to enemy action and Germans knew about the rocket development there, so Projectile Development Establishment was evacuated to [[RAE Aberporth]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=A History of RAE Aberporth |url=https://www.rafaberporth.org.uk/page6.html |access-date=2023-06-28 |website=www.rafaberporth.org.uk}}</ref>

==History of RARDE== Two departments, the "Research Department" and the "Design Department", were established in 1922 at [[Royal Arsenal|Woolwich Arsenal]]. During the [[Second World War]], the Design Department moved to Fort Halstead, followed by the Research Department. It is believed that [[Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom|Britain's development]] of the [[atomic bomb]], hidden under the name '[[High Explosive Research]]' (HER) was initially based at Fort Halstead, where the first atomic bomb was developed under the directorship of [[William George Penney]],<ref name="BBC"/> who had been appointed Chief Superintendent Armament Research ("CSAR", called ''"Caesar"'') by [[C. P. Snow]]. ''[[Operation Hurricane]]'' saw the bomb conveyed by frigate to [[Australia]] and successfully exploded in the [[Montebello Islands]].<ref name="BBC"/> In 1950, it is thought that the 'HER' research was moved to a new site at the [[Atomic Weapons Establishment]], [[Aldermaston]] in [[Berkshire]].

In 1955, the two departments were merged to give the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), which was granted the title "Royal" in February 1962.<ref>[http://www.tendra.org/faq "Royal" Armament Research and Development Establishment] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120153325/http://www.tendra.org/faq |date=20 November 2008 }}</ref> In the 1980s, RARDE was amalgamated with the [[Military Vehicles and Engineering Establishment]] (MVEE) – formerly the Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (FVRDE) – with sites at [[Chertsey]] and [[Christchurch, Dorset|Christchurch]], and the [[Propellants, Explosives and Rocket Motor Establishment]] based at [[Waltham Abbey (town)|Waltham Abbey]] and [[Westcott, Buckinghamshire|Westcott]].

Following the December 1988 [[Lockerbie bombing]], [[Forensic science|forensic]] experts from RARDE's explosives laboratory examined material recovered from the crash scene, and subsequently testified as [[expert witness]]es at the [[Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial]].

In 1996, the bus from the [[Aldwych bus bombing]] was taken to Fort Halstead for analysis, where previously a number of [[Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) explosive devices had been examined.

RARDE was home to a number of [[military simulation]] and war game projects, mainly aimed as assessing the effectiveness of future defence equipment procurement. After Iraq's [[invasion of Kuwait]] and throughout the latter half of 1990, a series of computerised war games were conducted at RARDE in preparation for [[Operation Granby]], Britain's contribution to the [[Gulf War]].

In 2017, scientists from the Forensic Explosives Laboratory at Fort Halstead examined the wreckage of the aircraft from the [[2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash|crash of a Polish Air Force Tu-154]] in 2010, for traces of explosives, after being engaged by the Polish government.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Farmer |first1=Ben |last2=Day |first2=Matthew |date=2017-02-27 |title=MoD experts to investigate Polish leader's plane crash blamed on 'Russian aggression' |language=en-GB |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/27/mod-experts-investigate-polish-leaders-plane-crash-blamed-russian/ |access-date=2023-06-28 |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>

==Evolution to DERA== On 1 April 1991, the [[Defence Research Agency]] (DRA) was set up by bringing together [[Royal Aircraft Establishment|Royal Aerospace Establishment]] (RAE), [[Defence Evaluation and Research Agency|Admiralty Research Establishment]] (ARE), RARDE, and the [[Royal Signals and Radar Establishment]] (RSRE). It was an [[executive Agency]] of the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]]. Four years later, when DRA was itself merged to form the [[Defence Evaluation and Research Agency]] (DERA), the forensic explosives laboratory came under media and scientific scrutiny. In 1996, amid allegations that contaminated equipment had been used in the testing of forensic evidence, an inquiry was set up under Professor Brian Caddy of [[Strathclyde University]] to investigate the laboratory's alleged shortcomings.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/innocent-beyond-doubt-1348637.html |title=Innocent beyond doubt |author=Robert Verkaik |work=[[The Independent]] |date=22 May 1996 |location=London }}</ref>

==Dstl and QinetiQ== Following the split of DERA in 2001 into [[QinetiQ]] and [[Dstl]], the Fort Halstead site was retained by QinetiQ who leased part of it back to Dstl. Its most recent principal functions have been research, test, evaluation and forensic analysis into explosives, and the site's explosives laboratory was again used in the investigation following the attempted [[21 July 2005 London bombings]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/terrorism/story/0,,1997687,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=1| title=21 July suspect admits making bombs| date=24 January 2007| work=[[The Guardian]]| access-date=20 February 2007}}</ref> The facility has been the largest employer in the [[Sevenoaks (district)|Sevenoaks district]], with 1,300 personnel working on the site in 2000.

In March 2006, QinetiQ sold the Fort Halstead site to Armstrong Kent LLP for an undisclosed sum,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hines.com/property/detail.aspx?id=1910 |title=Fort Halstead |access-date=13 May 2009 |archive-date=27 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727221423/http://www.hines.com/property/detail.aspx?id=1910 |url-status=dead }}</ref> remaining on-site as a tenant. In June 2011, [[Dstl]] announced that its facilities at Fort Halstead were to close following a review of operations at the site,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-13814693 |title=Kent's Fort Halstead research laboratory to close |access-date=17 June 2011 | work=BBC News |date=17 June 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.dstl.gov.uk/downloads/Dstl_Fort_Halstead.pdf |title = Defence Science and Technology Laboratory to relocate operations away from Fort Halstead |access-date = 17 June 2011 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110928062749/http://www.dstl.gov.uk/downloads/Dstl_Fort_Halstead.pdf |archive-date = 28 September 2011}}</ref> although delays in building new facilities at [[Porton Down]]<ref>{{Cite news|date=2013-10-31|title=Fort Halstead move to Porton Down delayed by a year|language=en-GB|work=BBC News: Kent|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-24760400|access-date=2021-12-24}}</ref> has meant Dstl finally left in October 2022 (taking eleven rather than the planned five years).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.jtp.co.uk/projects/community-planning/fort-halstead|title=JTP - Architects, Masterplanners and Placemakers|website=jtp.co.uk|language=en|access-date=2019-01-15|archive-date=2 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302231550/https://www.jtp.co.uk/projects/community-planning/fort-halstead|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2017, Armstrong Kent sold the site to Merseyside Pension Fund.<ref name=":0" /> In 2023 [[Sevenoaks District Council]] granted permission for 635 houses on the site.<ref>Kent Online https://www.kentonline.co.uk/sevenoaks/news/635-homes-planned-on-site-of-military-fort-312998/</ref>

==Distinguished former staff== *[[Richard Beeching|Richard, Baron Beeching]],<ref>Hardy, R. [http://www.bilderberg.org/railways.htm#bio ''Beeching, champion of the railway?''], Ian Allan, {{ISBN|0-7110-1855-3}}. Retrieved 21 May 2009 (extract only).</ref> "Dr Beeching", author of the report ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' *[[Alwyn Crow|Sir Alwyn Crow]],<ref>[http://www.freewebs.com/heinkill/PAC.pdf Stop-gap weapons of 1940:the concept of the aerial minefield.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020122441/http://www.freewebs.com/heinkill/PAC.pdf |date=20 October 2012 }}. Retrieved 12-05-2009.</ref> developer of the [[Unrotated Projectile]] *[[Frank Ewart Smith|Sir Frank Ewart Smith]]<ref>{{ref patent|country=gb|number=679710|title=Automatic electrical switching device|fdate=1945-10-24|pubdate=1952-09-24|gdate=1952-09-03|invent1=Hugh Desmond Lucas|invent2=Ronald Alexander Newman}}</ref> *[[Douglas Hartree]],<ref name=Hartree>[[Mary Croarken]], [http://iee.org/OnComms/pn/History/HistoryWk_Computing_in_Britain.pdf ''Computing in Britain During World War II''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928003326/http://www.iee.org/OnComms/pn/History/HistoryWk_Computing_in_Britain.pdf |date=28 September 2007 }} IEE.org. p6. Retrieved 12-05-2009.</ref> after whom the [[Hartree]] unit of atomic energy is named, and the [[Hartree–Fock|Hartree–Fock method]] of approximating n-body wavefunctions *[[Sir John Lennard-Jones]],<ref name=Hartree /> devisor of the [[Lennard-Jones potential]] description of atomic attraction *J.W. Maccoll,<ref name=Maccoll>{{cite book|last=Davis|first=E. A.|title=Nevill Mott|date=17 March 1998 |publisher=Taylor and Francis|isbn=0748407901|page=36}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Challens|first=John|title=Obituary: John Corner|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-john-corner-1330514.html|newspaper=The Independent|date=28 October 2012}}</ref> of Taylor-Maccoll theory of supersonic flow over a cone *[[Sir Nevill Mott]],<ref>Dennis Grady (2006), [https://www.amazon.com/Fragmentation-Rings-Shells-Pressure-Phenomena/dp/3540271449 ''Fragmentation of Rings and Shells: The Legacy of N.F. Mott (Shock Wave and High Pressure Phenomena)''], Springerlink, {{ISBN|978-3-540-27144-4}}. Amazon.com. Retrieved 12-05-2009.</ref> Nobel Laureate in Physics *[[William Penney|William, Baron Penney of East Hendred]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080511013810/http://www.awe.co.uk/aboutus/Our_History_f77a4.aspx Our History]. AWE. Retrieved 12-05-2009.</ref> a principal scientist on the [[Manhattan Project]], and leader of Britain's High Explosive Research project *[[Dick Strawbridge]], engineer, environmentalist and [[Television presenter|broadcaster]]

==See also== * [[Investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103]] * [[Blue Peacock]] nuclear land mine * [[Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom#Post-war development programme|UK nuclear weapons development]] * [[Atomic Energy Research Establishment]] (AERE or the Harwell Laboratory) * [[Atomic Weapons Research Establishment]] (AWRE)

== References == {{Reflist|30em}}

===General=== *Hamilton-Baillie, J.R.E, "Fort Halstead & the London Defence Positions", ''Fort'' ([[Fortress Study Group]]), 1977, ('''3'''), pp31–35

== External links == *[https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/49-2010/ Comprehensive historical review] by [[Historic England]] *[http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/lockerbie/Lockerbie-terror-bombers-conviction-thrown.2653683.jp RARDE's Alan Feraday] *[http://www.dstl.gov.uk/ Dstl – Defence Science and Technology Laboratory] *[http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=51.312468~0.149077&style=a&lvl=16&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000 Fort Halstead Aerial Photograph] (Microsoft Live Maps) *[http://www.forthalstead.org Fort Halstead: preserving the history of British defence research and development] *[https://forthalstead.org/society-1/ Friends of Fort Halstead]

[[Category:19th-century forts in England]] [[Category:Forts in Kent]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Sevenoaks]] [[Category:Fortifications of London]] [[Category:Research institutes in Kent]] [[Category:Research installations of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)]] [[Category:Military installations established in 1897]] [[Category:1897 establishments in England]] [[Category:Military installations closed in 2022]]