Eastbourne, E Sussex - Bandstand & Music Garden, old car - RP postcard c.1930s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Redoubt, Bandstand and Music Garden, Eastbourne - lovely real photo type with old cars
• Publisher: none stated 
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Eastbourne Redoubt is a circular coastal defence fort at Eastbourne, East Sussex, on the south coast of England. It was built in 1805 as part of the British anti-invasion preparations during the Napoleonic Wars. Visitors to the Redoubt can now explore the fortress, discovering the stories of the people who lived there throughout its 200 year history.

The redoubt is a circular structure, measuring 224 feet (68 metres) in diameter and is built almost entirely of brickwith some granite facing. The lower tier is composed of a ring of 24 casemates or vaulted chambers, which open into a central parade ground.^[1] Casemate 11 was the main magazine for the redoubt, casemate 8 was modified in the 1870s as a cook house and casemates 23 and 24 were altered in the 1880s to provide a detention room and two cells.^[2]

The upper tier above the casemates forms the terreplein or gun platform, which has a tall parapet pierced by granite-faced embrasures for eleven guns. Beside each gun position is an "L" shaped expense magazine which held a supply of ammunition for the guns to use in combat and could also be used as a shelter for the gun crews during an enemy bombardment. The low roof of these magazines forms a banquette or fire step so that the garrison could fire their muskets over the parapet in the event of an infantry attack.^[3] The parapet is also pierced by the main gate, which was originally the only access to the redoubt.^[4]

The redoubt is surrounded by a ditch or dry moat which is 30 feet (9 metres) from the top of the parapet and 25 feet (7 metres) wide. On the far side of the moat, a glacis or earth ramp slopes away to ground level.^[5] Both the moat and the glacis have been removed on the seaward side during construction of a sea wall and promenade in 1890.^[6] The floor of the ditch is traversed by five caponiers or covered galleries with loopholes that allowed the defenders to fire at any attackers who had reached that point. These are unique in any of the circular redoubts and are thought to have been added in the mid-19th century. Access to the main gate of the redoubt is across a wooden drop bridge,^[4] which is a modern reconstruction of the original, built in 2003 with help from the Royal Engineers. A second entrance from the ditch was created in 1957 by inserting a large doorway through the scarp wall into one of the casemates.^[6]

The decision to build the redoubt was made at a conference held in Rochester on 21 October 1804, to discuss defence against Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom, preparations for which were gaining momentum on the opposite side of the English Channel. The meeting, which was attended by the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, agreed to adopt a revolutionary scheme to build a chain of mutually-supporting circular artillery towers along a stretch of the Channel coast where the French were thought to be most likely to land. The scheme had been devised by Captain William Henry Ford of the Royal Engineers and championed by Brigadier-General William Twiss who commanded the Royal Engineer Southern District. The original plan called for 83 Martello towers, each mounting a single heavy gun, at intervals along the coast and three 11-gun towers at Sea Houses (Eastbourne), Rye Harbour and Dymchurch. In the event, 74 Martello Towers were actually built and plans for the 11-gun tower at Rye were abandoned.^[7] The 11-gun towers, which came to be known as "circular forts" or "grand redoubts", were intended to act as barracks and stores depots for the rest of the Martello chain, as well as formidable fortresses in their own right.^[8] A third redoubt was later constructed at Harwich in Essex to support the Martello chain built to defend the east coast; although broadly similar, it differs in some details from the south coast redoubts.^[9]

The contract to build the redoubt at Eastbourne was awarded to William Hobson. Five million bricks were brought around the coast by barge from London for the project^[10] and others were made locally. Work started on 16 April 1805,^[6] but a report by Brigadier-General Twiss to the Board of Ordnance in May 1808 recommended that the money to settle Hobson's account be withheld until all the work was completed.^[11] The structure was built on a raft of compacted chalk laid directly onto the natural shingle.^[12] It was constructed almost entirely of brick, over 50,000 being used in a single course.^[13] Cavities within the structure were filled with shingle.^[14] The redoubt was initially armed with 24-pounder guns on traversing carriages; although there are embrasures for 11 guns, only 10 appear to have been mounted.^[12] These were replaced shortly afterwards by longer ranged 36-pounder guns, after fears the redoubt could be bombarded at a distance by heavier French weapons.^[6] By the time that the redoubt had been fully armed and garrisoned, the likelihood of an invasion had become very remote and the guns were only fired in anger once; in 1812 two shots were fired at a passing French warship but missed.^[1]