Fort de l’Heurt stands nearly 600m off the coast near Le Portel on Boulogne’s southern outskirts.
Ordered by Napoleon to help keep the British away from his fleet moored at Boulogne, work began on the fort in May 1803, and it was operational by May 1804. It was built using blocks of stone dug from quarries at nearby Wimile and formed an imposing, 150m wide semi-circular position stood over 13m high above the waves.
It was bristling with firepower too with twelve 36ins guns, four 6ins howitzers, and three 12ins mortars.
By the time German forces occupied this area of France in May 1940, the fort was in a state of disrepair but there was enough of a structure in place for further construction – again to repel the English and their Allies.
On top of the remaining blocks a huge concrete platform was constructed of around 20m x 15m and a heavy calibre anti-aircraft gun was mounted on top of this – not somewhere we would fancy being posted at any time of year!
Today the fort remains can only be visited at low tide, and with decent footwear, and it’s an opportunity to get up close to this historic monument to see the scale of the blocks used.
On the walk from the beach your can follow a set of railway lines which to the base of the fort remains and were used during the German occupation and construction.