47-533: Fort Bend was a blockhouse built in a large bend of the Brazos River in what is now Fort Bend County , Texas , to provide protection against Indian raids. It was erected in November 1822 by several members of Stephen F. Austin 's Old Three Hundred , including William W. Little, Joseph Polley, William Smithers [Smeathers], Charles Beard, Henry Holster and is described as a "little log shanty". The location
94-598: A modern blockhouse and a bunker is that a bunker is constructed mostly below ground level while a blockhouse is constructed mostly above ground level. Some blockhouses like those constructed in England in 1940 were built in anticipation of a German invasion ; they were often hexagonal in shape and were called " pillboxes ". About 28,000 pillboxes and other hardened field fortifications were constructed, of which about 6,500 still survive. The Admiralty Citadel in London
141-422: A room within a larger fortification, usually a battery or redoubt. The term blockhouse is of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Middle Dutch blokhus and 18th-century French blocus (blockade). Blockhouses existed in ancient Greece, for example the one near Mycenae . Early blockhouses were designed solely to protect a particular area by the use of artillery, and they had accommodation only for
188-435: A single blockhouse. Many of the redoubts consisted of a pentagonal platform with a rectangular blockhouse at the rear, although a few had semi-circular or rectangular platforms. Surviving redoubts with blockhouses include Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq Redoubt and Briconet Redoubt , both of which have a pentagonal plan. A few of the redoubts consisted of a single tower-like blockhouse without a platform, and were known as tour-reduits . Of
235-611: A success and subsequently further buoys and beacons were lit by Trinity House using the same system, in the Estuary and beyond. Today the Port of London Authority's Thames Navigation Service (established in 1959) is responsible for buoyage, beaconage and bridge lights on the Tideway. Trinity House remains responsible for aids to navigation in the wider estuary (and beyond). Download coordinates as: This table shows, from west to east,
282-468: A twice-weekly visit by a boatman for cleaning and maintenance). Broadness was lit by Pintsch gas , and Stoneness by a Lindberg light (which burned petroleum naphtha ). At the same time Trinity House began experimenting with the application of lamps to buoys, using Pintsch's oil-gas system, beginning with three in the Thames Estuary (East Oaze, Ovens and Sheerness Middle); the experiment was deemed
329-694: Is 30 wind turbines generating typically 82.4MW of electricity. The much larger 630 MW London Array was inaugurated in 2013. The term Greater Thames Estuary applies to the coast and the low-lying lands bordering the estuary. These are characterised by the presence of mudflats, low-lying open beaches, and salt marshes , namely the North Kent Marshes and the Essex Marshes. Human-made embankments are backed by reclaimed wetland grazing areas, but rising sea levels may make it necessary briefly to flood some of that land at spring tides , to take
376-463: Is an archetypal, well-developed economy urban, upper river estuary with its sedimentary deposition restricted through manmade embankments and occasional dredging of parts. It is mainly a freshwater river about as far east as Battersea , insofar as the average salinity is very low and the fish fauna consists predominantly of freshwater species such as roach , dace , carp , perch , and pike . It becomes brackish between Battersea and Gravesend , and
423-660: Is one of the few blockhouses to survive from the New Zealand Wars . During the Second Boer War the British forces built a large number of fortifications in South Africa . Around 441 were solid masonry blockhouses, many of which stand today. Different designs were used in the construction of these blockhouses, but most were either two or three story structures built using locally quarried stone. However
470-656: Is one of the sturdiest above-ground structures built during World War II. It was constructed in 1940–1941 as a bomb-proof operations centre for the Admiralty , with foundations nine metres deep and a concrete roof six metres thick. It too was intended to serve as a strongpoint in defending against the feared invasion. In Berlin and other cities during World War II some massive blockhouses were built as air-raid shelters and anti-aircraft artillery platforms. They were called Hochbunker (literally, "high bunkers"; better translated as "above ground bunkers", to distinguish them from
517-532: Is the accessway for the Port of London (including London Gateway, associated Tilbury and Purfleet) and the Medway Ports of Sheerness , Chatham and Thamesport . The traditional Thames sailing barge worked in this area, designed to be suitable for the shallow waters in the smaller ports. A 2000s-decade-built wind farm is 8.5 km north of Herne Bay, Kent , on a shoal south-west of Kentish Knock . It
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#1732772405619564-418: Is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery , air force or cruise missiles . A fortification intended to resist these weapons is more likely to qualify as a fortress or a redoubt , or in modern times, be an underground bunker . However, a blockhouse may also refer to
611-605: The Maplin Sands (1841) and at Gunfleet (1856). Meanwhile, one of the outlying sandbanks of the Estuary was marked by a lightvessel at Kentish Knock (in 1840); and in due course the southern approach was marked by lightvessels at the Tongue (1847) and Girdler (1848) sands, with another being added (between these two) in the Princes Channel (1856). In 1851 two more screw-pile lighthouses were built further upriver, on
658-489: The United States . Blockhouses may be made of masonry where available, but were commonly made from very heavy timbers , sometimes even logs arranged in the manner of a log cabin . They were usually two or even three floors , with all storeys being provided with embrasures or loopholes, and the uppermost storey would be roofed. If the structure was of timber, usually the upper storey would project outward from
705-787: The East and West Barrows, the Nob, the Knock, Kentish Knock , the John, the Sunk, the Girdler, and Long Sand/the Long Sands. Shallow-bottomed barges and coasters would navigate the swatchways at flood tide, and would cross the sand banks at spitways, points where the water was least shallow, and just deep enough at that point of the tide. If they missed the moment they would heave to (lay anchor) and wait for
752-702: The Essex marshes. His The Mirror of the Sea (1906) contains a memorable description of the area as seen from the Thames. He refers to this area in the first pages of his novel Heart of Darkness , describing it as both the launching place of England's great ships of exploration and colonization and, in ancient times, the site of colonization of the British Isles by the Roman Empire. The form of speech of many of
799-512: The Netherlands, for example). Instead, coastal navigators and pilots relied on the use of transits (the alignment of prominent structures or natural features on land) for guidance. In 1566 Trinity House of Deptford (which oversaw pilotage on the Thames) was empowered to 'make, erect and set up [...] beacons, marks and signs for the sea' (albeit at its own expense). Not long afterwards,
846-730: The Princes-Queens Channel and the South Channel to the south, to a lesser extent the Kings Channel and the Swin to the north. The Swin was used by barges and leisure craft from the Essex rivers, and coasters and colliers from the north east. These channels were made up of natural troughs; Yantlet Channel (Sea Reach), Oaze Deep, Knock John Channel, Black Deep/ Black Deep Channel which have been much-marked. These are separated by slow-moving sandbanks with names such as
893-687: The Thames Estuary and the North Sea has been located at various notional boundaries, including: The estuary just east of the Tideway has a tidal range of 4 metres. Winds excluded, it moves at 2.6 knots (4.8 km/h; 3.0 mph) in bi-monthly spring tides. The estuary is one of the largest of 170 such inlets on the coast of Great Britain . It constitutes a major shipping route , with thousands of movements each year, including: large oil tankers , container ships , bulk carriers (of loose materials/liquids), and roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) ferries. It
940-634: The blockhouses were not built to a common design, but usually consisted of a stone tower and bastion or gun platform, which could be semi-circular, rectangular or irregular in shape. The last blockhouse of this type was Cromwell's Castle , built in Scilly in 1651. Blockhouses were an ubiquitous feature in Malta 's coastal fortifications built in the 18th century by the Order of St. John . Between 1714 and 1716, dozens of batteries and redoubts were built around
987-620: The center of activity in the area its name was given to the county when it was established in 1837. The next year nearby Richmond, Texas was selected as the county seat and soon absorbed the smaller Fort Bend settlement. In 1936 the Texas Centennial Commission erected a monument to commemorate Fort Bend's role in the Texas Revolution. Marker Text: Built in November, 1821, by William Little, William Smithers, Charles Beard, Joseph Polly and Henry Holster. Its name
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#17327724056191034-663: The coastline. Where higher land reaches the coast, there are some larger settlements, such as Clacton-on-Sea to the north in Essex, Herne Bay, Kent , and the Southend-on-Sea area within the narrower part of the estuary. The Thames Estuary is the focal part of the 21st-century toponym, the " Thames Gateway ", designated as one of the principal development areas in Southern England. The Thames Estuary 2050 Growth Commission report published in June 2018 identified
1081-671: The coasts of the Maltese Islands, while a few others were built in the subsequent decades. Almost every battery and redoubt had a blockhouse, which served as gun crew accommodation and a place to store munitions. Many of the batteries consisted of a semi-circular or polygonal gun platform, with one or two blockhouses at the rear. The blockhouses usually had musketry loopholes, and in some cases were linked together by redans . Surviving batteries include Mistra Battery and Ferretti Battery , which both have two blockhouses, and Saint Mary's Battery and Saint Anthony's Battery , which have
1128-422: The cost to build a blockhouse dropped down to £16, compared to several hundred pounds for masonry ones. These blockhouses played a vital role in the protection of the railway lines and bridges that were key to the British military supply lines. During World War I and World War II , many types of blockhouses were built, when time allowed usually constructed of reinforced concrete . The major difference between
1175-518: The decay of the steeple of Margate Church (an important landmark for negotiating 'the Narrows', a complex route between sandbanks used by vessels sailing to or from London along the North Kent coast) led to Trinity House marking the Narrows with buoys in the late 16th century. In his coastal survey of 1682-93, Greenvile Collins records five buoys around the Narrows, just north of Reculver , on
1222-546: The diversity of freshwater fish is smaller, primarily roach and dace. Euryhaline species then dominate, such as flounder , European seabass , mullet , and smelt . Further east salinity increases and conditions become fully marine and the fish fauna resemble that of the adjacent North Sea , a spectrum of euryhaline and stenohaline types. An alike pattern of zones applies to the aquatic plants and invertebrates. Joseph Conrad lived in Stanford-le-Hope close to
1269-622: The economic potential of the region. In 2020 the Thames Estuary Growth Board was appointed, led by government-appointed Envoy Kate Willard OBE, to unlock the potential of the UK's number one green growth opportunity. Entrepreneurs and investors have looked at the greater estuary as a possible place for a new airport , and have expanded Southend Airport in the 2010s, which has a rail link to Liverpool Street station , London among others. The Thames flowing through London
1316-560: The established local accents. The term London Accent is generally avoided, as it can have many meanings. Forms of "Estuary English", as a hybrid between Received pronunciation and various London accents, can be heard in all of the New Towns, all of the coastal resorts, and in the larger cities and towns along the Thames Estuary. For commercial shipping rounding the Nore sandbank and thus accessing Greater London, main deep-water routes were
1363-514: The four tour-reduits that were built, only the Vendôme Tower survives today. Originally blockhouses were often constructed as part of a large plan, to "block" access to vital points in the scheme. But from the Age of Exploration to the nineteenth century standard patterns of blockhouses were constructed for defence in frontier areas, particularly South Africa , New Zealand , Canada , and
1410-478: The lower so the upper storey defenders could fire on enemies attacking the lower storey, or perhaps pour water on any fires. When the structure had only one storey, its loopholes were often placed close to the ceiling, with a bench lining the walls inside for defenders to stand on, so that attackers could not easily reach the loopholes. Blockhouses were normally entered via a sturdy, barred door at ground level. Most blockhouses were roughly square in plan , but some of
1457-506: The more elaborate ones were hexagonal or octagonal , to provide better all-around fire. In some cases, blockhouses became the basis for complete forts, by building a palisade with the blockhouse at one corner, and possibly a second tower at the opposite corner. Many historical stone blockhouses have survived, and a few timber ones have been restored at historical sites. In New Zealand, the Cameron Blockhouse , near Whanganui ,
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1504-626: The navigation lights of the River Thames between London Bridge and Yantlet was transferred by Act of Parliament from the Thames Conservancy to the Corporation of Trinity House ; responsibility for buoyage was transferred likewise in 1878. In 1885 the beacons at Broadness and Stoneness were replaced with iron-frame experimental lighthouses, each lit by a novel system which would allow the light to function unattended (except for
1551-415: The need for a substructure. Failure due to wood rot and splintering when hit by bullets or shrapnel were eliminated. The steel door to the blockhouse was sheltered by another piece of corrugated iron. The Major Rice blockhouse could be erected in six hours by six trained men. With the change from square gabled roofs to a circular design, they were given the nickname "Pepperpot blockhouse". With mass production
1598-417: The next tide. Recreational craft are expected use channels most suited to the size of their vessel. Their main guide says to use when navigating to or from: To cross the south-east quarter of the estuary large vessels use Fisherman's Gat , and small vessels to were expected to use Foulger's Gat . Provision of buoys and beacons for the purpose of navigation came relatively late to England (compared to
1645-816: The northern foreshore of Sea Reach: at Mucking and on the Chapman sands (just off Canvey Island ). Prior to 1684 beacons were set up on the mudflats north of the Swin channel, to help vessels approaching the Thames from the north to navigate the sands. Pan-sand Beacon was set up by Trinity House in 1774 to mark a dangerous sandbank on the southern approach. Similar daymarks were set up on other nearby sandbanks in later years, including on Margate Hook (1843), Middle Ground (1844) and Shingles (1846). Trinity House also maintained beacons further upriver, including at Broadness (established in 1821), Stoneness (1839), Erith (1830) and Tripcock (1832). In 1864 responsibility for maintaining
1692-434: The people of the area, principally the accents of those from Kent and Essex, is often known as Estuary English . The term is a term for a milder variety of the "London Accent". The spread of Estuary English extends many hundreds of miles outside London, and all of the neighbouring home counties around London have residents who moved from London and brought their version of London accents with them, leading to interference with
1739-499: The pressure off the defences and main watercourses. There are many smaller estuaries in Essex, including the rivers Colne , Blackwater and Crouch . Small coastal villages depend on an economy of fishing, boat-building, and yachting. The Isle of Sheppey , the Isle of Grain , Canvey Island , Two Tree Island , Havengore Island , New England Island , Rushley Island , Potton Island , Foulness Island and Mersea Island are part of
1786-619: The short-term use of the garrison. The first known example is the Cow Tower, Norwich , built in 1398, which was of brick and had three storeys with the upper storeys pierced for six guns each. The major period of construction was in the maritime defence programmes of Henry VIII between 1539 and 1545. They were built to protect important maritime approaches such as the Thames Estuary , the Solent , and Plymouth . Often sited in pairs,
1833-585: The southern approach to the Thames. The Swin (the northern approach) was marked with buoys at the easternmost points of the Gunfleet, Middle and Buxey sands, and by beacons on the Whitaker, Shoe and Blacktail spits. A buoy marked the easternmost point of the Nore sandbank at this time, and three more buoys marked sandbanks in the middle part of the estuary (Spaniard, Red Sand and the Oaze). The Nore Lightship ,
1880-524: The usual deep i.e. underground air raid shelters) and those that functioned as anti-aircraft artillery platforms were also called Flak towers . Some were over six stories high; several survive to this day because of the high cost of demolition. The Hochbunker Pallasstraße [ de ] in Berlin- Schöneberg has a post-war block of flats built over it. During the Cold War the shelter
1927-475: The vast scale of British strategy led the British to develop cheaper, double-skinned corrugated iron structures. These could be prefabricated, delivered to site by armoured train, and then have locally sourced rocks or rubble packed inside the double skin to provide improved protection. A circular design developed by Major Rice in February 1901 had good all round visibility, and the lack of corners did away with
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1974-467: The waters of the North Sea , in the south-east of Great Britain . An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salinity). For this reason the limits of the Thames Estuary have been defined differently at different times and for different purposes. This limit of the estuary has been defined in two main ways: The transition between
2021-618: The world's first lightvessel , was established in the Estuary as a private venture in 1732 to mark the 'best position for entering the Thames and Medway, and to clear the Nore Sand'. The coastwise approach from the north was aided by the establishment of the Sunk lightvessel in 1802 'to mark the north-east entrance to East Swin, and to guide vessels round Long Sand'. Later, the Swin channel was further marked by lightvessels at Swin Middle (1837) and Mouse (1838), and by screw-pile lighthouses on
2068-520: Was given to the county when created in 1837. 29°34′38″N 95°45′06″W / 29.5772°N 95.7517°W / 29.5772; -95.7517 This article about a location in Fort Bend County, Texas is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification , usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes , allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It
2115-612: Was in use as a NATO foodstore. In the guerrilla phase of the Irish Civil War (1922–1923), a network of blockhouses was constructed to protect the railways from guerrilla attacks. Blockhouses and coordinated road systems were used in the encirclement campaigns of Chiang Kai-shek against the Chinese Communist Party . Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets
2162-553: Was maneuvered out of the position, Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna transported a portion of his Mexican army across the Brazos at the crossing. After Santa Anna's defeat at the battle of San Jacinto the site was used briefly by the Texas army. Troops under Thomas Jefferson Green, who were in pursuit of retreating Mexican forces led by Gen. Vicente Filisola , halted for a short time in mid-May 1836 at Fort Bend. Because Fort Bend had been
2209-598: Was reportedly selected by Austin, and a settlement soon grew up around the post. As the site provided one of the more favorable fords of the Brazos River , it became important during the Texas Revolution . The Fort Bend crossing was briefly defended in April 1836 by a rear guard detachment led by Wiley Martin. Where Mexican pickets forced the company of 46 men to retreat across the Ford after a short skirmish. After Martin
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