New Tavern Fort
The remains of the 18th century New Tavern Fort are found in the gardens of Major General Charles George Gordon’s* (Born 28 Januaty 1833 0 Died 26 January 1885) Gravesend residence, Fort House. According to Anna Dubuis in an article entitled ‘The ghosts and legends of north Kent’ which appeared in the Gravesend Reporter on Wednesday 31 October 2012.
‘New Tavern Fort in Gravesend, which was built in the 1780s to defend the Thames against naval attacks, is the site of numerous sightings.
James Balan was volunteering there in 1992 when he saw his first apparition.
“I went down to the tunnels to get some wood and I turned around and saw a Victorian soldier working down there.
“I could see the buttons on his uniform. I took a deep breath and quickly got out.
“Sometimes you think you see something, but what I saw was indisputably a ghost, it was a memory of the past years coming back.”
Re: New Tavern Fort
David Mills states the following in his article entitled ‘NORTH KENT Is where you live haunted’ which appeared on News Shopper Website, Sunday 30th August 2009.
FORT GARDENS, GRAVESEND
Here lies the remains of an 18th century fort, built to defend the Thames against any naval attack from France, and later rebuilt by General Gordon between 1865 and 1879.
Centuries ago however, it was the site of a medieval graveyard.
Open to the public for more than 20 years, there have been up to 40 reported sightings of ghoulish activity.
That is according to Victor Smith, a volunteer who works at the fort.
He said: “We have had lots of reports from visitors about things they have seen, sounds they have heard and things they have felt in terms of cold spots, typical of alleged hauntings.”