The Palmerston Forts are a group of forts and associated structures, around the coast of Britain.
The forts were built during the Victorian period on the recommendations of the 1860 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, following concerns about the strength of the French Navy, and strenuous debate in parliament about whether the cost could be justified. The name comes from their association with Lord Palmerston, who was Prime Minister at the time and promoted the idea.
The works were also known as Palmerston’s Follies as, by the time they were completed the threat (if it had ever existed) had passed, largely due to the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, and furthermore the technology of the guns had become out-of-date. They were the most costly and extensive system of fixed defenses undertaken in Britain in peacetime.
The defences were built to defend a number of key areas of the British, Irish and Channel Island coastline, in particular areas around military bases,
