operated by volunteers between 1985 and 2020. The project undertook the gradual restoration of the fort and held regular open days. Various items of 20th century military equipment were displayed in the interior of the fort; the casemates housed reconstructions and small military-related museums. The project was highly commended in the British Archaeological Awards and the fort has featured both in the BBC series Restoration and in the 2005 film Batman Begins, in which it stood in for a Bhutanese prison in the first five minutes of the film. The British director Christopher Nolan had seen the TV series and decided that he wanted to set the film's opening scenes in the fort. The poor condition of parts of the structure and its state of slow decay led to it be listed in 2008 on the Heritage at Risk Register. English Heritage provided an emergency grant in 2009, supplemented by Thurrock Council and the filming fee from Warner Bros. for Batman Begins, to help make £200,000 worth of repairs to the gatehouse. These were completed in 2011. Grants from Veolia Thames and Thurrock Council, via the Heritage Lottery Fund, have funded the construction of a new block outside the fort entrance to house a cafe, toilets and information centre. A four-mile (6.4 km) riverside walk known as the Two Forts Way links Coalhouse Fort with its older counterpart Tilbury Fort; it is described as "a challenging route suitable for able bodied walkers and experienced cyclists." Funded by the newly restructured Historic England (formerly English Heritage), a survey of the heritage site was completed in early 2017 and repairs to make the fort watertight were expected to begin in late 2017. In January 2020, the Coalhouse Fort Project was discontinued in recognition of its success in saving and restoring the fort, leaving the site's future direction to Thurrock Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund. References External links Coalhouse Fort Park (Thurrock Council) Coalhouse Fort Picture Gallery Victorian Forts data sheet Buildings and structures in Thurrock Forts in Essex Forts on the River Thames Military installations established in 1874 Military and war museums in England Museums in Essex Napoleonic war forts in England Palmerston Forts 1874 establishments in England