1) At the Alverbank Hotel in Gosport on Tuesday 2nd August and Wednesday 3rd August at 1400, Palmerston Forts Society member James Doherty will be giving a “talk and walk” on the subject of FORT GOMER.
James will start the talk with the history of Fort Gomer and will then move on to introduce a 3D digital model of the fort that he has created. This model gives you an opportunity to visit and explore a fort that no longer exists. Fort Gomer was demolished in the 1960s and the site is now a housing estate.
Fort Gomer is a very interesting fort because it was built to a rather unique design that illustrates the transition from the old bastioned forts to the new polygonal design, to which all the subsequent land forts in the area were built.
In this presentation you may be able to don a VR headset and explore for oneself, subject to joining the queue for such a unique experience!
After the talk, there is the option to join James for a walk around the site of the fort. None of the buildings and features of the fort survive but the arrangement of the houses on the estate and even their size and height are influenced by what lies beneath the ground.
2) At St. Mary’s Church in Fratton on Thursday 4th August and Friday 5th August at 1400, Palmerston Forts Society member Lewis Sharp will be telling the story of the SIEGE OF PORTSMOUTH 1897. This is a talk that was given as a “Fort Talk” at Fort Nelson last week and also earlier in the year as a PFS members’ meeting talk and webinar. If you missed it then, here is a chance to catch it.
Lewis will describe this counterfactual 'future war' story which was written in 1895. It describes an amphibious attack on Portsmouth by a Franco-Russian alliance. The story was commissioned to support a parliamentary election campaign in Portsmouth. The political context to the story and its aftermath will be explained as well as the story itself, and then an analysis of whether the events described in it were plausible.
These events are all free but you need to book a place. This link will take you to the booking page for all events.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/history-week-34043960163
You can also find details of these events, and a lot more, in the Palmerston Forts Society webpage by following this link:
https://www.palmerstonfortssociety.org.uk/fortification-events
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