FORT WIDLEY

 FORT WIDLEY - SITE VISITATION 

First of all I would love to say Fort Widley has a great feel, I was scared to stand there but after I was able to stand and stay for a while, I literally felt on top of the  world. its really calming. It felt like I had zero worries. 

For our Work Based Learning course, we were showed different projects and told to Pick any of our choice. I was hooked between two different projects but I ended up picking the Fort Widley project. My thought was who doesn’t want to see a fort that was designed for protection getting adaptively reused to a wedding reception venue and accommodation space.

Adaptive reuse is a process of reusing an existing building for a purpose other than which it was originally designed for. 

Fort Widley is a polygonal Fort Designed by William Crossman. Red brick and local flint were used to construct the forts buildings and to revetment the substantial dry ditch that was dug at the same time. The fort was constructed from chalk.

Milena and her husband were kind enough to take us to the site for visitation. Thank you Milena. As you enter Fort Widley, to the left there is a plank that leads to the reception, where we met our tour guide. 

She took us down to the tunnels and we explored every tunnel. The sides of the tunnel were stone, some even had name carvings. It had a great feel. 

Fort Widley was constructed as a defensive structure. It was built to protect Portsmouth from landward attacks. It went through some modifications to accommodate people incase of a war. It had a plank that was supported by wood so as people could pass there to the tunnel for safety, which would now be removed so that the enemy won’t be able to get in. 

There was a spiral staircase that when you look vertically you could see light. It also had a rope and carriage that allows carrying of heavy items to the top, as it would be difficult carrying it on the stairs. It could also make you feel dizzy looking up. 

The space to be adaptively reused for accommodation was used for ammunition placement, it had tiny windows where a gun could pass through and be used from inside while protecting the person using it. 

Finally there is always light at the end of the tunnel.