Fort Paull: A Coastal Gun Battery on the Humber
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- British
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Fort
On this page14 sections
History
Fort Paull is a coastal gun battery in the United Kingdom on the north bank of the Humber near Paull, downstream from Hull. The present pentagonal fort was built between 1861 and 1864 in the nineteenth-century period of British coastal defence, following recommendations by the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom. It formed part of the Palmerston Forts, a group of British coastal and harbour fortifications built or modernised after those recommendations, and remained in military use until 1960.
Earlier batteries at Paull
Paull had military batteries long before the present fort. The first fort on the site was begun in 1542 during the reign of Henry VIII and had capacity for twelve guns. Batteries were also constructed during Charles I’s involvement in the English Civil War and the siege of Hull, and again during the Napoleonic Wars.
Victorian and early twentieth-century defence
The new fort entered service in 1864 with nineteen 64-pounder rifled muzzle-loading guns. These weapons were loaded through the barrel, while spiral grooves improved the accuracy of their projectiles. In 1886, a mining station for operating defensive naval mines was added. From 1894, the original gun positions were concealed or demolished and replaced with concrete emplacements for newer artillery. Searchlights were installed in 1907.
At the beginning of the First World War, Fort Paull was considered too close to Hull for its role. It was disarmed after new forts were built at Sunk Island and Stallingborough. Between the world wars, the site served as a training base. During the Second World War, it was converted into an ammunition magazine serving the Russian convoys, and a degaussing station was added. Degaussing reduced a vessel’s magnetic signature and helped protect it from magnetic mines.
Military abandonment and museum use
The Ministry of Defence abandoned Fort Paull in 1960. Four years later, the Friends of Fort Paull, a volunteer group, took over the site and began restoring it as a museum. It opened to the public in 2000, with displays that included a wax museum devoted to figures connected with the fort’s history, an arsenal of artillery pieces and armoured vehicles, and occasional military re-enactments.
Fort Paull later housed the last remaining complete Blackburn Beverley heavy transport aircraft after the closure of the Museum of Army Transport. The aircraft was sold to the Solway Aviation Museum for £21,000 in a contents auction on 19 September 2020, when the museum’s contents were auctioned after the attraction did not open for that season. The site’s purchase and proposed reopening works were announced in May 2024, and Fort Paull reopened on 28 September 2024.
Remains
Fort Paull survives as a pentagonal gun battery whose physical layout reflects successive changes in coastal artillery and military storage. Its nineteenth-century gun positions were altered for later weapons, while installations added in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries formed part of the wider defensive complex.
Gun battery and artillery positions
Original gun battery
The fort’s first armament consisted of nineteen 64-pounder rifled muzzle-loading artillery pieces. These guns were loaded from the front of the barrel and used internal spiral grooves to improve accuracy. Their positions belonged to the original arrangement of the present fort, which was built between 1861 and 1864.
Concrete gun emplacements
In 1894, the earlier emplacements were concealed or demolished. Concrete positions were then built for three 6-inch breech-loading guns on hydropneumatic carriages and two 4.7-inch quick-firing guns. Breech-loading guns were loaded from the rear, while quick-firing guns were designed to sustain a high rate of fire. The hydropneumatic carriages used hydraulic and pneumatic systems to lower the guns behind protective cover and raise them for firing.
Later military installations
Mining station and searchlights
A mining station was added in 1886 for operating defensive naval mines. Searchlights followed in 1907, extending the fort’s equipment for coastal defence and night operations.
Wartime magazine and degaussing station
During the Second World War, part of the fort was converted into a magazine, a military store for ammunition and other explosives, serving the Russian convoys. A degaussing station was also added. This installation reduced the magnetic signature of vessels, helping to protect them from magnetic mines.
Museum collections
Arsenal and armoured vehicles
During its museum period, Fort Paull’s arsenal contained artillery pieces and armoured vehicles. These objects formed part of the site’s interpretation of its military history alongside the wax displays and occasional re-enactments.
Blackburn Beverley aircraft
The site housed the last remaining complete Blackburn Beverley heavy transport aircraft after the Museum of Army Transport closed. It remained at Fort Paull until its sale to the Solway Aviation Museum in the 2020 contents auction.
Nearby sites
