Fort On Blyth Links

The Fort on Blyth Links is a coastal defense fort built in the late 19th century and remodeled between 1914 and 1918, with some alterations made during 1939 to 1945. Constructed from reinforced concrete and brick, the fort is situated on and partially integrated into a sand-dune hill. It features a pair of gun emplacements that face the sea, a magazine and shell store built into the landward side of the dune, a shelter block to the south, and a Defence Electric Light director station along with a blockhouse to the north.

Each gun emplacement is fronted by a sloping apron of reinforced concrete and linked by a wall that is backed by a lower-level, flat-roofed shelter block. The internal wall at each end of the shelter contains cupboards with heavy iron doors. The flat-roofed superstructure of each gun emplacement was added during the 1939 to 1945 period. The shelter block includes a detached R.A. store with a boarded door, two small windows, and a flat felted roof. The officers' and men's shelter, which is now a public convenience, is a flat-roofed rectangular building featuring a door and four windows on the south side.

The magazine and shell store has a front wall facing west, which includes two doorways, a boarded window, and a barred four-pane sash window, along with two low openings above and a narrow opening on the right into the blast space surround. The director station is a two-storey, six-sided tower topped with a metal-sheeted rangefinder housing. An iron stair leads up to a balcony on cantilever brackets on the west side. The five-sided blockhouse has a door and two boarded hatches, with a flat concrete roof. Between the director station and the blockhouse stands a lookout tower added during the 1939 to 1945 period.

Historically, the fort was originally known as Fort Coulson, named after the Royal Engineer Captain who oversaw its construction. During World War I, it housed two 6-inch guns. After being disused, it was returned to Blyth Corporation in 1925 but was re-commissioned during World War II. This fort is a rare surviving example of a World War I coastal defense complex.