Fort Nelson at half term

A British 18″ railway gun

Fort Nelson is a national museum outpost above Portsmouth. A mid Victorian fort built to defend southern England against French invasion, it now houses the foremost artillery collection of the Royal Armouries.  The museum still offers free admission, and when i visited there was a steady flow of families, hardly surprising as it was half term. The highlights were the the One O’Clock firing of a British 25 pounder gun, the Iraqi super gun and the tunnels underneath the fort. The fort is a  mixture of modern museum galleries exploring the history of the fort, warfare and garrison life as well as a chance to explore the decaying ruins.  The site easily swallows up a multitude of visitors in a maze of galleries, tunnels and ramparts.  Something a bit different and worth a visit.

One of the main galleries with an early modern “Dragon Cannon”