The Surprising Second Life of an Abandoned Victorian Sea Fort

31.08.2023 - 20:07 / atlasobscura.com / Atlas Obscura / Henry Viii VIII (Viii)

Between 1850 and 1852, a mighty, squat stone fort rose from a low-lying island in the Milford Haven Waterway in Wales. Originally proposed by Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to King Henry VIII, more than 300 years earlier, Stack Rock Fort—about 800 yards off the coast—was built to protect the Royal Dockyard at Pembroke Dock from attack by sea. It had a 30-foot tower, walls nine feet and nine inches thick, and housed three large cannons and one smaller one. A few years later casemates were added, and by 1870, the fort got a major makeover, inspired by the threat of Napoleon III. A new battery was added, able to hold up to 175 soldiers and five officers. Most of the fort’s useful life was spent undergoing upgrades, and it only really saw active use during World War I. In 1929 it was finally decommissioned, disarmed, and scoured for useful materials. Since then, the lonely three-story fort has sat vacant but for crashing waves, nesting gulls, and opportunistic plants.

Now, nearly a century later, Stack Rock still stands. Inside, the past echoes through its eerie chambers: cannons sawed in half, skeletons of trapped birds in random rooms, and corroded control panels that were allegedly once linked to underwater minefields. The fort is now registered as a Grade II listed building and a scheduled monument, so any structural changes require special authorization.

In 2021, the property was purchased from a private owner by Anoniiem, a community interest company that proposed a new life for the place—one that looks a lot like the old one. The company plans to preserve the fort as a “living ruin,” embracing the nature that has taken over. The goal is to keep the air of discovery and magic it had built over its years of abandonment, says Nick, director of Anoniiem CIC, an ex-urbexer and history fanatic who prefers to go by his first name when discussing the fort. “We want it to feel like you’re exploring something for the first time,” he says. “We don’t want it to be cleaned up and turned into a museum or something for the rich. That’s not the goal.”

That year, Nick began inviting curious photographers to be inspired by the seemingly mystical site. One of these lucky photographers, Matt Emmett, owner of Forgotten Heritage, which specializes in architectural and heritage photography, has shared his photos for this story.

Atlas Obscura spoke to Nick about the wild world in and around the fort, its upkeep, and the future of this formidable, if obscure, monument.

I’ve heard all kinds of various descriptions when people first come in. The idea of it being a cathedral or being sort of like the Colosseum inside. We’ve heard Tower of Babel. We’ve heard it looks like Call of Duty—everything from Bond villain lair to some