 The government's response was to appoint a Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, which published a far-reaching report in 1860.The Royal Commission recommended that a triangle of forts should be established on the lower Thames, east of Gravesend.This would involve replacing the existing Coalhouse Fort on the Essex shore with a new fortification, similarly replacing the existing Shornemead Fort and building the wholly new Cliffe Fort opposite Coalhouse Point, which would replace the abandoned 18th-century battery at Lower Hope Point.