removed. A 1906 armament return shows that the 9.2 inch and 6-inch guns were still mounted but to be reduced. Corrections to August 1907 show them as dismounted. The barrack block was altered 1908-1910 by converting it to married quarters for Royal Engineers at nearby Fort Monckton. In 1916 the fort was armed with an early type of Anti-Aircraft gun, a 3-inch Quick Fire gun on a high angle mounting. This was placed in the eastern 9.2inch B.L. position on top of the fort. Trinity House had a small observation post on Fort Gilkicker after 1939. During World War II the fort was briefly armed with a 40mm Bofors gun and Gun Laying Radar was fitted outside the fort to direct the guns of the nearby Gilkicker Anti-Aircraft gun site. In the build-up to D-day a signals unit occupied the fort and during the Normandy landings on 9 June over 1,000 signals were recorded for the day needing routing to over 1300 addresses. Later an average of 800 signals to almost 1,000 addresses were routed via Gilkicker. The fort was the site of artillery exercises in 1953. Later use (1956-1999) In 1956 Coast Defence was abolished and the fort was then used by the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works as a plumbers workshop. Later a substantial wooden signalling station was built on top of the fort, which was continuously manned by former RN Signalmen, and used to monitor movements of vessels and assist in RN signalling training. Vessels transiting The Solent in the vicinity could also check their compass errors using the nearby navigational transit towers of Gilkicker and Kickergil. The fort was used by HMS Dolphin, based at Fort Blockhouse as storage for Submarine spares from 1959, with Fort Brockhurst staff maintaining it. The adjacent beach was closed to the public during this period. In November 1986 Hampshire County Council bought the fort, but not its surrounding earth bank. The fort was used as a building materials store from 1987 until 1999. Disuse (1999-present) The Phoenix Trust proposed to convert the fort to apartments in 1999, but pulled out in 2001. A similar redevelopment scheme was posited by Try Homes from 2003-2006, and Assett Hawk from 2007-2012. The latter did engage in some work on the site clearing overgrowth in 2012, but none of the schemes came to fruition. In 2016, the fort was earmarked for restoration and