Colchester Archaeological Trust
CAT Report 2108: summary
(Click on report title to view full report in PDF format)
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.