In June we had a guided tour of Chapel Bay Fort at Angle.
The fort is now no longer open to the general public so this was a rare opportunity to see inside.
The fort has a long history dating back to 1817 and is unique; first fort in the world built principally of mass concrete to a low-profile design and last in Britain built with a moat.
This combination is both forward looking – designed to resist the impact of artillery attack by using a
low-profile blending into the landscape, and backward looking in the use of a dry, vertically sided, defensive moat.
Photos By Myles Huthwaite
The extensive collection is the largest number of military artefacts held by a charitable trust in Wales, and includes cannon, large artillery, firearms, gas masks and much more.
The outdoor torpedo collection featured both British and German designs with some very clever features, especially for their era.
There were a range of cannon from a relatively small deck cannon to the heavy mounted artillery facing out to sea.
In the outbuildings were a number of artillery pieces painstakingly restored and maintained by the team of volunteers.
Further items could be seen in the museum, which had once been the accommodation block. The large hammock hooks still visible along the sides of the room, and in the reconstructed rooms
Our Guide, John, mentioned that the Fort was featured as one of the proper ties in the ITV Series called "Vanished Wales", shown on Fridays at 7.30pm. You can watch past episodes on ITV X by searching for “Vanished Wales”. Look out for Series 4, episode 6. You can see how overgrown and in ruins the fort was when George and Emma took it over compared to how it looks now.
They clearly have worked hard to make it into the museum it is today.
