Built just outside Felixstowe, Suffolk at the mouth of the River Orwell, Landguard Fort was designed to guard the entrance to Harwich. The first fortifications from 1540 were a few earthworks and blockhouse, but it was James I of England who ordered the construction of a square fort with bulwarks at each corner.

In 1667 the Dutch] landed a force of 1500 men on Felixstowe beach and advanced on the fort, but were repulsed by Nathaniel Darrell and his small garrison, and had to abandon the siege because of the lack of water on the shingle spit.

A new battery was built in 1716, and a complete new fort on an adjoining site was started in 1745 to a pentagonal bastioned trace. New batteries were built in the 1750s and 1780, but the biggest change was in the 1870s where the interior barracks were rebuilt to a keep-like design, the river frontage was rebuilt with a new casemated battery covered by a very unusual caponier with a spectacular quarter sphere bomb proof nose. Several open bastions were enclosed, and a mock [ravelin]] block constructed to house a submarine mining contingent.

The fort is under active restoration, and is frequently open during the summer.

The fort hosts a bird observatory, and is important for the study of bird migration.

External links

• Landguard (http://www.landguard.com)
• Landguard bird observatory (http://www.birdobscouncil.org.uk/Landguard/body_landguard.htm)