Two redoubts were constructed into the south coast Martello chain to act as supply depots for the local Martellos, and were originally described as 'eleven-gun towers'. It was originally proposed to build a four-gun tower at Dymchurch, but this idea was revised at the Rochester conference of 1804.1 The other redoubt was at Eastbourne.
According to L. Fussell:
"The spot was formerly occupied by a building called Brookman's Barn, by which appellation it is still better known by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, than by its proper military name; and for want of knowing that circumstance, travellers have sometimes been not only inconveniently misled by the answers which they have received to their inquiries respecting the road, but have lost an opportunity of inspecting one of the most interesting of all the ingenious works constructed for the defence of the coast."2
Dymchurch Redoubt was built between 1806-18093 to the same specifications as its Eastbourne counterpart, although Dymchurch does not have any caponiers. (Caponiers are blockhouses in the moat that allowed the garrison to cover the entire ditch with defensive musket fire - Eastbourne Redoubt has five).
Dymchurch also underwent significant re-fortification during the Second World War, bunkers and pillboxes adorning its parapets. The gun platforms were encased in concrete for machine-guns to be mounted, artillery emplacements constructed and an observation post erected.
On the western extreme of the Hythe Ranges, during the 1970's the Redoubt was being used by the British Army for training soldiers in the art of street-fighting. It is still owned by the Ministry of Defence, and will probably remain so, effectively preventing any restoration work with a view to opening it to the public in the foreseeable future.
