Gravesend Blockhouse

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Cranes Bulwark

In the civil parish of Gravesham.
In the historic county of Kent (Modern Authority of Kent, 1974 county of Kent).

Gravesend Blockhouse was one of five built by Henry VIII on the Thames Estuary in 1539. In C18, the blockhouse was converted into a magazine but later the building was demolished in the mid-C19. The western two-thirds of the semi-circular front wall with its gunports is consolidated and displayed. The remainder of the site was under the car park to the east and the road to the south.

This site has been described as a;
Artillery Fort.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Masonry footings remains.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TQ64997442

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 413783

Books

Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Kent (Malvern) p45
Saunders, Andrew, 1997, Channel Defences (London; Batsford/English Heritage) p49, 121
Kent, Peter, 1988, Fortifications of East Anglia (Lavenham: Ternence Dalton)
Saunders, A.D., 1985, Tilbury Fort Essex (English Heritage) p4
King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p236
Smithers, David Waldron, 1980, Castles in Kent (Chatham)

Journal Articles

Cherry, J., 1978, ‘Post-medieval Britain in 1977’, Post-Medieval Archaeology Vol12 p109-10
Thompson, D. and Smith, V., 1977, ‘The excavation of the Gravesend blockhouse, 1975-76’, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol93 p153-77
Thompson, D.G., 1976, ‘The Tudor blockhouse at the Clarendon Royal Hotel, Gravesend: interim report’, Kent Archaeological Review Vol45 p116-l8
Smith, V.T.C., 1974, 'The Artillery Defences at Gravesend' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol89 p141-168

Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)

William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/kenteng.html#kent9]
Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p250

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