built in 1868–72 to house rifled muzzle loader (RML) guns. One is protected by a thick iron shield with a gun-port in the middle, while the other three have unprotected open embrasures. All four are very well-preserved and still retain the rails on which the guns traversed. Doors on either side give access to the ammunition shafts which brought shells and cartridges up from the magazine. The shielded embrasure has been re-armed with an RML gun, making it a rare example of an embrasure of this type that has retained its original appearance. The southern sector of the rampart was known as the East Face, for its direction facing the river. It incorporates two small brick emplacements constructed in the 1860s. They originally housed a pair of traversing guns that fired en barbette. Magazines and other features The entrance to the magazines is in the middle rampart and gives access to a and brick tunnel which zig-zags under the rampart. Sixteen storage rooms serving as expense magazines for cartridges and shells are situated off the tunnel, with ammunition lifts linking them to the gun positions above. The main magazine consisted of two cartridge and shell stores, from where the ammunition would be transported along the tunnel to the smaller expense stores. To ensure that there was no possibility of sparks or naked flames causing explosions, safety lighting was provided from behind glass screens while the magazine workers had to wear special magazine slippers and safety clothing to ensure that they could not create sparks when they moved. The magazines have been partly refurbished with displays illustrating how they were used and exhibits relating to the military history of Gravesend, and are open as a visitor attraction on summer weekends. A separate brick-arched magazine lies below the north rampart and was used to store ammunition for the 6″ guns, as well as a fire appliance. A wide ditch lies in front of the ramparts. Its width was increased in the 1860s, when it originally contained a fence intended to serve as an obstacle to attacking infantry. It is now filled with ornamental plants, pools and paths, and is designated as a nature area. Almost nothing now remains of the original internal barracks and administration buildings. The only substantial exception is the medieval Milton Chantry, the oldest building in Gravesend, which was used as a barracks. History Strategic context The lower Thames