I took advantage of a free morning to take the dogs on a walk to the nearby Woodland Woods, located in an outer suburb of the city of Plymouth. I’ve walked in these woods on many occasions, but have usually entered it from the eastern side; today I ventured in from the west, due to being interested in finding a few nearby geocaches.
The walk itself was largely enjoyable and largely uneventful – a man walking his dog attempted to engage me in conversation about the arrival of travellers on a nearby field (“shame, shame,” he uttered), and I found myself becoming annoyed with a woman shouting into her phone during a bland and pointless conversation (which was on loud speaker, of course) who seemed to keep walking down the path I headed down (despite my best efforts to avoid her); but the highlight was walking around Woodland Fort.
Woodland Fort is part of a chain of fortifications that stretches around Plymouth, starting by the home I grew up in near the Tamar river, all the way to the Plym river. They were constructed during the 1860s, with Lord Palmerston – Prime Minister at the time – ordering them due to the fear of invasion from the French (a fear that was never realised). By 1920 the military sold off Woodland Fort, and for the past century it has been largely neglected by the local council, no doubt due to the huge cost needed to renovate it and put it to good use.
Having found a couple of geocaches I took the dogs to the fort; I didn’t realise that we could simply walk in and have a gander at all of these lost bits of hidden history. I had previously marvelled at the fort from looking on the outside from the wood, so it was something of a treat to explore in closer detail. The following photographs come from this visit.
If anyone has any information about the history or uses of the fort, I would love to hear from you.
Hi Dave, thank you so much for posting you great piece on Woodland Fort. Myself and a few other members of the WFCC have been carrying out gardening duties on behalf of the City for over 12 months now. From grass cutting and pruning to painting signage and faux windows, we feel we have made a huge difference in changing people’s attitude to the place, especially with the behaviour of the youngster that have for generations made the ramparts their evening roost. As you said, the grounds are open to all 24/7, and the club-house in the old barrack block open 19:30 – 22:30 Mon-Sat. I will be there every Monday evening after church (St Francis Honicknowle have their 1/2hr Monday service at the Fort since the church fire last January), please look in and ask for Andy Sturdy and I would be glad to arrange a time to give the full tour. By the way; many of the WWII trenches have been cleared on the northern ramparts which may be of interest, especially anyone with children wishing to explore the Fort’s role as a US Army base prior to D-day. Thanks again, Andy.
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Hi Andy, thanks for the overview. I’d love to have a tour to find out more about the fort. It sounds as if you have put a lot of effort into maintaining the fort and making it accessible.
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