History

Fort Widley is one of the first forts to be built on top of Portsdown hill between 1860 and 1868. It was built to protect from attacks and various infantry units occupied the barracks. In 1875 the 30th regiment were quartered there and in 1886 the south Lancaster regiment was stationed here. In the First World War, it was used as a transit depot and in the Second World War provided accommodation. In 1952 the fort became bomb disposal squadron until Portsmouth Council took it over for use as an activity centre.

Paranormal

Ghostly drummer boy, spirits of French Napoleonic prisoners of war and poltergeist activity have all been reported and witnessed in the Fort. The spirit of an elderly lady has been detected by mediums and a policeman has been seen around the time of the Titanic, 1911 to 1913, photographic evidence of this policeman can be seen.

There is also a sergeant who doesn’t seem to be particularly nice and apparently kicked a boy down the stairs who fell to his death… Both spirits still walk the tunnels. Join us on this investigation to see if we can capture and document any of the paranormal activity that goes on in these tunnels.