The Fortress Study Group is an international organisation based in the UK, which aims to further the understanding of military fortification

Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...

s, particularly those designed after the introduction of gunpowder artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

.

History

The Fortress Study Group was formed in June 1975 at Pembroke College, Oxford

Pembroke College, Oxford

Pembroke College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located in Pembroke Square. As of 2009, Pembroke had an estimated financial endowment of £44.9 million.-History:...

 with Jock Hamilton-Baillie

Jock Hamilton-Baillie

Jock Hamilton-Baillie MC , was a British Royal Engineers officer famed for numerous escapes from German prisoner of war camps during World War II...

 as chairman, Quentin Hughes

Quentin Hughes

Quentin Hughes was a British SAS officer during World War II who became an architect and academic. He was influential in the preservation of Liverpool's Victorian and Edwardian architectural heritage.-Early life:...

 as editor of the annual journal, and his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester

Duke of Gloucester

Duke of Gloucester is a British royal title , often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England, the next in the Peerage of Great Britain, and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; this current creation carries with it the...

 as patron. Other notable members, past and present include Andrew Saunders

Andrew Saunders

Andrew Saunders was an internationally recognised expert in artillery fortifications and Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings in the UK between 1973 and 1989.-Early life:...

, Christopher Duffy, Simon Pepper and the late Ian V. Hogg

Ian V. Hogg

Ian V. Hogg was a notable British author of books on firearms, artillery, ammunition, and fortification, as well as biographies of several famous general officers. During his career he wrote, co-wrote, edited, or co-edited about 150 books and sold well over 1 million copies .-Biographical...

. There are currently around 600 members worldwide.

Activities

The group publishes an annual peer reviewed journal entitled FORT which contains articles on fortifications throughout the world. Annual Conferences and lecture days are held in order to disseminate new research on the subject. Tours of fortifications outside the UK are also organised and a specialist library on the subject of fortification is held at Fort Nelson

Fort Nelson, Portsmouth

Fort Nelson, in the civil parish of Boarhunt in the English county of Hampshire, is one of five defensive forts built on the summit of Portsdown Hill in the 1860s, overlooking the important naval base of Portsmouth. It is now part of the Royal Armouries, housing their collection of...

. The group also offers small grants for the publication of works on fortification and the preservation of fortifications.

The Fortress Study Group was involved in the Defence of Britain Project (April 1995 - March 2002) which aimed to record all surviving 20th century defences in Britain. The group surveyed 270 sites on the Holderness coast in the UK in 1992 on behalf of the Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments of England. This formed the basis of the Defence of Britain Project under the Council for British Archaeology

Council for British Archaeology

Established in 1944, the is an educational charity working throughout the UK to involve people in archaeology and to promote the appreciation and care of the historic environment for the benefit of present and future generations...

. Individual members have also been involved with restoration projects such as Fort Amherst

Fort Amherst

Fort Amherst, in Kent, England, was constructed in 1756 at the southern end of the Brompton lines of defence to protect the southeastern approaches to Chatham Dockyard and the River Medway against a French invasion. Part of it is now open to the public....

, Harwich Redoubt

Harwich Redoubt

Harwich Redoubt is a circular fort built in 1808 to defend the port of Harwich, Essex from Napoleonic invasion. The Harwich Society opens it to the public.- Construction :...

, The Needles Battery

The Needles Battery

The Needles Battery was a military Battery built on the cliff top above the Needles stacks in 1861–63 to guard the West end of the Solent. Its field of fire was from approximately West South West clockwise to Northeast and it was designed to defend against enemy ships.-Old Battery:It was...

, and Newhaven Fort

Newhaven Fort

Newhaven Fort was built on the recommendation of the 1859 Royal Commission to defend the growing harbour at Newhaven, on the south coast of England...

.