of a cost-cutting exercise to reduce the overall cost of the fort-building programme. Instead, a new land fort was built at Grain, while the existing battery at Garrison Point on the Isle of Sheppey was upgraded and fortified to create Garrison Point Fort. Construction and layout Grain Fort was constructed between 1861–68 to a heptagonal design. It initially had thirteen open emplacements carried on an earthwork, under which lay the magazines and linking passages. A semi-circular brick keep on a north–south alignment stood at the centre of the fort. It provided barrack accommodation for the garrison and was designed to be defensible, with loopholes in its front face to facilitate musket fire. Similarly, its gorge at the rear, where the main entrance stood, had crenelations to provide protection for defenders faced with a rearward attack. In front of the keep was a ditch, accessed via a gate at the rear of the fort. It had four caponiers that guarded the angles and were accessed via passages through the underlying structure. An inner ditch around the keep was covered by a further three caponiers and two demi-caponiers which led into the earthwork ramparts in one direction and into the keep in the other. The keep could also be accessed via a bridge which connected it with the terreplein. Operational history Grain Fort's initial armament consisted of 13 heavy RMLs (six 11-inch, four 9-inch and three 64-pdr. guns). By the end of the 19th century these had been replaced by four much more powerful guns: two 9.2-inch Mark X breech-loading guns and two 4.7-inch guns. The original thirteen emplacements were reduced to five by 1895. The fort continued in use during the Second World War and underwent further alterations when its two existing 6-inch close defence guns were enclosed within bomb-proof shelters. Fire control positions were also added, along with spigot mortars at each end of the terreplein. In 1956 the fort was decommissioned and sold to the local authority five years later, following which the surface buildings were demolished. To supplement the fort's firepower, two additional gun batteries were subsequently constructed nearby. These were Grain Wing Battery (constructed 1890–95) south of Grain Fort, and Dummy Battery (constructed 1861–68), about south of the fort. Neither was used for long before they were disarmed and used for other purposes, and both were decommissioned and sold off along with Grain Fort. Current status Little