At the weekend I got to shoot in a Victorian fort, one of a chain of defences against the French built in Victorian times (it was completed in 1879).
To get down into the dry moat where the shooting took place we had to walk down a long tunnel carved through the chalk of the hill.
There is a string of these forts and also some built in the middle of the sea just off Portsmouth.
They are known as Palmerston's Follies:-
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=palmerston%27s+follies&espv=2&biw=1093&bih=747&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CDAQsARqFQoTCJSQrNze-sYCFQu3FAodJnEPvQ&dpr=1because by the time they were finished the threat from the French had gone, the armaments were obsolete and some of the Forts looked like they were built facing the wrong way! Some being built to protect against the French trying to take Portsmouth from the landward side, where the obvious attack would be from the sea.
Interestingly, during WWII there was a huge series of caves cut into the hill to act as a a giant air raid shelter for the whole population of Portsmouth.. it was like a city carved into the chalk. The Luftwaffe gave Portsmouth a hard time as it was a major naval dockyard.
A little further North on the chalk hills of the South Downs there is a memorial to the crew of one German bomber that took some anti aircraft fire and crashed there. The wreck was researched and it gives their names. It's a moving tribute to the young men from "the other side" who also suffered. I can think of worse places to end your days, it's a tranquil place with views out across to the Isle of Wight on a clear day,
I spent my formative years near there and Portsmouth is well worth a visit if you ever come to the UK... the Mary Rose Museum, HMS Victory, a submarine museum and loads of other interesting stuff.
Del
