Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 2108: summary

Archaeological monitoring and recording at Coalhouse Fort, Princess Margaret Road, East Tilbury, Essex, RM18 8PB: October 2024
by Xander Smith (with contributions from Dr Matthew Loughton and Laura Pooley)

Date report completed: November 2024
Location: Coalhouse Fort, Princess Margaret Road, East Tilbury, Essex, RM18 8PB
Map reference(s): TQ 69092 76810 (centre)
File size: 2,850 kb
Project type: Archaeological monitoring and recording
Significance of the results:
Keywords:

Summary. Archaeological monitoring and recording was carried out at Coalhouse Fort, Princess Margaret Road, East Tilbury, Essex, during the excavation of geotechnical survey pits. The Victorian Fort, with its associated railway link and jetty and its rifle range, also includes the foundations of an 16th-century `blockhouse' coastal battery, a late 19th century ‘Quick-Firer’ battery and a lowlevel radar tower dating from World War II. Monitoring revealed modern layers and features including buried gravels from an earlier parade ground surface sealing buried topsoil, and a bedding layer for part of the demolished railway.