South Eastern Railway (England)
The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings and other places in Kent; the SER absorbed or leased other railways, some older than itself, including the London and Greenwich Railway and the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway. Most of the company's routes were in Kent, eastern Sussex and the London suburbs, with a long cross-country route from Redhill in Surrey to Reading, Berkshire. Much of the company's early history saw attempts at feuding with its neighbours. However, in 1899 the SER agreed with the LCDR to share operation of the two railways, work them as a single system and pool receipts: but it was not a full amalgamation; the SER and LCDR remained separate companies until becoming constituents of the Southern Railway on 1 January 1923. There had been proposals for a railway between London and Dover in 1825, 1832 and 1835, but they came to nothing due to opposition from landowners or the difficulties of bridging the River Medway near its mouth.
On 21 June 1836, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed a Private Act incorporating the South Eastern and Dover Railway, which shortly afterwards changed to the South Eastern Railway. At the time of inauguration there were two potential rail pathways south from London, the Speaker of the House of Commons had said no further pathways would be permitted; the SER therefore considered routes to Dover from the proposed London and Southampton Railway line at Wimbledon, or from the existing London and Greenwich Railway at Greenwich. The former left London in the wrong direction and on a roundabout route; the latter provided a useful way for a northern route via Gravesend and Canterbury, except that lengthening the line beyond Greenwich was blocked by opposition from the Admiralty, this route would involve tunnelling through the North Downs. The engineer of the new line, William Cubitt, was engineer of the London and Croydon Railway, which planned to use L&GR lines as far as Corbett’s Lane in Bermondsey before turning south towards Croydon.
A new connection on this line near to Norwood could provide access to a southerly route to Dover via Tonbridge and Folkestone. This was less direct than the northerly route but passed through easier country, it involved one significant 1,387-yard tunnel through the Shakespeare Cliff near Dover. This was the route first chosen by the SER at its inauguration. During Parliamentary discussions on the proposed route of the London and Brighton Railway during 1837, pressure was put on the SER to divert its proposed route so it could share the L&BR mainline between Jolly Sailor and Earlswood Common, travel eastwards to Tonbridge. Under the scheme proposed by Parliament, the railway from Croydon to Redhill would be built by the L&BR but the SER would have the right to refund half the construction costs and own that part of the line between Merstham and Redhill; the SER gave way to this proposal as it reduced the construction costs, although it resulted in a route 20 miles longer than by road, running south for 14.5 miles and turning east.
It meant that its trains from London Bridge passed over the lines of three other companies: the L&GR to Corbett's Lane Junction, the L&CR as far as'Jolly Sailor', the L&BR to Merstham. Construction began in 1838 at several places and the Shakespeare Tunnel was complete by May 1841; the L&BR line to Redhill opened on 12 July 1841 and the SER line from Redhill to Tonbridge on 26 May 1842, when SER train services began. The main line reached Ashford on 1 December 1842. On the same day the SER offered to lease the L&BR for 21 years at £100,000 per year, but the offer was turned down; that year, the SER refunded to the L&BR £430,000 and took ownership of the southern half of the Croydon-Redhill line. Trains ran toll-free to both companies on this stretch but still had pay on the L&CR from Norwood Junction railway station to Corbett's Lane Junction, the L&GR into London Bridge. In 1843, when the railway reached the edge of Folkestone, the company bought the silted and nearly derelict harbour, built by Thomas Telford in 1809, for £18,000.
The SER dredged the harbour and, after a trial with the paddle steamer Water Witch, which demonstrated that a day excursion from London to Boulogne was feasible, arranged for a packet company to provide a ferry to Boulogne. The following year it established the independent South Eastern & Continental Steam Packet Company, which it absorbed in 1853. James Broadbridge Monger was the Master of the "Water Witch" from 1839 to 1844. From 1844 on, he was Master of three vessels which steamed from Dover and Folkstone to Boulogne and Ostend with passengers and cargo: "Lord Warden", "Princess Helena" and "Princess Maude". In December 1848 it opened a steeply graded branch from the Folkestone station to the harbour; the SER opened Dover station on 7 February 1844. This was a terminus, but in 1860 the line was continued to Admiralty Pier. Thereafter the SER concentrated most of its resources into developing Folkestone Harbour, which became its principal base for cross-channel ferries; the company had complete control of Folkestone whereas at Dover it had to negotiate with both the Admiralty and the local town council, the rail route from Boulogne to Paris was better developed than that from Calai
Gomshall railway station
Gomshall railway station serves the village of Gomshall in Surrey, England. The station, all trains serving it, are operated by Great Western Railway, it is on 35 miles 21 chains measured from London Charing Cross via Redhill. The station was opened by the Reading and Reigate Railway on 20 August 1849, was named Gomshall and Shere Heath. On 12 May 1980, the name was simplified to Gomshall; as the older names suggest, it serves the nearby village of Shere. It has been unmanned since 1967; the station is 35 miles 21 chains from Charing Cross, has two platforms, which can each accommodate a three-coach train. Gomshall Station has two staggered platforms. A gated foot crossing had been in use to access both until 25 November 2016 when it was replaced by a permanent bridge with ramped and stepped access. On 20 February 1904, a troop train, en route to Southampton, hauled by C class No. 294 was derailed at Gomshall station. There were no fatalities but the locomotive crew and four soldiers of the Northumberland Fusiliers were injured.
Trains are two-hourly off-peak and hourly peak-time, with additional Gatwick Airport services stopping at peak-time. There are 28 week-day services that call at Gomshall, 14 to Reading, 12 to Redhill and 2 to Gatwick Airport. There are 18 Saturday services that call at Gomshall, 9 to Reading, 8 to Redhill and 1 to Gatwick Airport. There are 16 Sunday services that call at Gomshall, 8 to Reading, 6 to Redhill and 2 to Gatwick Airport
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west; the county shares borders with Essex along the estuary of the River Thames, with the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. The county town is Maidstone. Canterbury Cathedral in Kent has been the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England, since the Reformation. Prior to that it was built by Catholics, dating back to the conversion of England to Catholicism by Saint Augustine that began in the 6th century. Before the English Reformation the cathedral was part of a Benedictine monastic community known as Christ Church, Canterbury, as well as being the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury; the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury was Reginald Pole. Rochester Cathedral is in Kent, in Medway, it is the second-oldest cathedral in England, with Canterbury Cathedral being the oldest. Between London and the Strait of Dover, which separates it from mainland Europe, Kent has seen both diplomacy and conflict, ranging from the Leeds Castle peace talks of 1978 and 2004 to the Battle of Britain in World War II.
England relied on the county's ports to provide warships through much of its history. France can be seen in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county and in the series of valleys in between and to the south are most of the county's 26 castles; because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as "The Garden of England". Kent's economy is diversified. In northwest Kent industries include extraction of aggregate building materials and scientific research. Coal mining has played its part in Kent's industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its strong transport connections to the capital and the nearby continent makes Kent a high-income county. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: the North Downs and The High Weald; the name Kent is believed to be of British Celtic origin and was known in Old English as Cent, Cent lond, Centrice.
In Latin sources Kent is mentioned as Canticum. The meaning is explained by some researchers as "coastal district," or "corner-land, land on the edge". If so, the name could be etymologically related to the placename Cantabria a Celtiberian-speaking coastal region in pre-Roman Iberia, today a province of Spain; the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era. There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley; the modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word kantos meaning "rim" or "border", or from a homonymous word kanto "horn, hook". This describes the eastern part of the current county area as coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as um, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC; the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses.
Caesar wrote that the people of Kent are'by far the most civilised inhabitants of Britain'. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730 and recorded as Cent in 835; the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital. In 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity; the Diocese of Canterbury became England's first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained England's centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral. In the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning "undefeated" or "unconquered"; this naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy. The Kent people's continued resistance against the Normans led to Kent's designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067.
Under the nominal rule of William's half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted similar powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales and Scotland. Kent was traditionally partitioned into East and West Kent, into lathes and hundreds; the traditional border of East and West Kent was the Medway. Men and women from east of the Medway are Men of Kent, those from the west are Kentishmen or Kentish Maids. During the medieval and early modern period, Kent played a major role in several of England's most notable rebellions, including the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, led by Wat Tyler,Jack Cade's Kent rebellion of 1450, Wyatt's Rebellion of 1554 against Queen Mary I; the Royal Navy first used the River Medway in 1547. By the reign of Elizabeth I a small dockyard had been established at Chatham. By 1618, storehouses, a ropewalk, a drydock, houses for officials had
Railway electrification in Great Britain
Railway electrification in Great Britain began during the late 19th century. A range of voltages has been used. In 2006, 40%—3,062 miles of the British rail network was electrified, 60% of all rail journeys were by electric traction. According to Network Rail, 64% of the electrified network uses the 25 kV AC overhead system, 36% uses the 660/750 V DC third-rail system; the electrified network is set to expand over coming years, as 25 kV electrification is extended to unelectrified lines, such as the Great Western Main Line, the Midland Main Line and lines in the North of England as part of the Northern Hub. The first electric railway in Great Britain was Volk's Electric Railway in Brighton, a pleasure railway, which opened in 1883, still functioning to this day; the London Underground began operating electric services using a fourth rail system in 1890 on the City and South London Railway, now part of the London Underground Northern line. The Liverpool Overhead Railway followed in 1893, being designed from the outset to be electric traction, unlike the City and South London Railway, designed to be cable hauled initially.
Main line electrification of some suburban lines began in the early years of the 20th century, using a variety of different systems. The Mersey Railway converted to 600 V DC electric multiple-unit operation on 3 May 1903, thus eliminating the problems caused by steam traction in the long tunnel under the River Mersey, the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway's Liverpool Exchange to Southport suburban commuter line was electrified at 625 V by March 1904. Both of these lines used a fourth rail system, In 1921 a government committee chose 1,500 V DC overhead to be the national standard, but little implementation followed and many different systems co-existed. During the interwar period, the Southern Railway adopted the 660 V DC third rail system as its standard and expanded this system across its network of lines south of London. After World War II and the nationalisation of the railways in 1948, British Railways expanded electrification at both 1,500 V DC overhead and 660/750 V third rail. In 1956, BR adopted 25 kV AC overhead as standard for all projects outside logical extensions of third-rail systems.
The 25 kV AC network has continued to expand and large areas of the country outside London are not electrified. In 2007, the government's preferred option was to use diesel trains running on biodiesel, its White Paper Delivering a Sustainable Railway, ruling out large-scale railway electrification for the following five years. In May 2009, Network Rail launched a consultation on large-scale electrification to include the Great Western Main Line and Midland Main Line and smaller "in-fill" schemes. Key benefits cited were that electric trains are faster, more reliable and cause less track wear than diesel trains. Since electrification of the Great Western Main Line has been approved. Electrification of the Midland Main Line, several Trans-Pennine routes and the Welsh Valleys has been approved but subsequently cut back considerably. In Scotland, where transport is devolved to the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland is extending electrification, for example, on the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link.
This is part of a larger plan that sees many major routes in central Scotland electrified, including the main Edinburgh Waverley – Glasgow Queen Street route. In June 2011, Peter Dearman of Network Rail suggested that the third-rail network will need to be converted into overhead lines, he stated, "Although the top speed is 100 mph, the trains cannot go over 80 mph well and 25% of power is lost from heat". Agreeing that conversion would be expensive, he said that the third rail network is at the limit of its power capability as trains become more advanced in technology; the July 2012 Department for Transport High Level Output Specification for Network Rail Control Period 5 includes the conversion of the South Western Main Line between Southampton Central and Basingstoke from 750 V DC third rail to 25 kV AC overhead as part of a scheme to improve rail freight capacity from Southampton Port. This conversion is a pilot scheme to develop a business case for full conversion of the third rail network.
The ORR has stated that on safety grounds, third rail 750 V DC has a limited future. British Railways chose this as the national standard for future electrification projects outside of the third rail area in 1956. Following this, a number of lines that were electrified at a different voltage were converted, a number of lines have been newly electrified with this system. Work started in the late 1950s; the first major electrification project using 25 kV was the West Coast Main Line. The 25 kV network has been expanded since: West Coast Main Line Electrified from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s using the Mark 1 series under the BR 1955 Modernisation Plan to Crewe, extended to Glasgow in 1974. Northampton: see Northampton Loop Line. Birmingham New Street: see Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line. Liverpool Lime Street including newly electrified routes to Manchester via Newton-le-Willows and to Wigan North Western via St. Helens Central in 2015. Manchester Piccadilly: see Stafford to Manchester Crewe to Manchester Line.
Glasgow Central: in 1974, from Weaver Junction using Mark 3A series The "Abbey Flyer" was electrified 1987-88 by Network SouthEast. Edinburgh Waverley
Ashford railway works
Ashford railway works was in the town of Ashford in the county of Kent in England. Ashford locomotive works was built by the South Eastern Railway on a new 185-acre site in 1847, replacing an earlier locomotive repair facility at New Cross in London. By 1850 over 130 houses had been built for staff, The works employed about 600 people in 1851 increasing to about 950 by 1861, around 1,300 by 1882. A carriage and wagon works was opened on an adjacent 32-acre site in 1850. On 1 January 1899, the railway entered into a working union with the London Chatham and Dover Railway, forming the South Eastern and Chatham Railway; each antecedent company had its own locomotive works, but Ashford was larger than Longhedge works and so became the principal locomotive works for the new organisation. The latter facility was run down and converted into a subsidiary works. Following the grouping of the SECR with the London and South Coast Railway and the London and South Western Railway to form the Southern Railway on 1 January 1923, most new locomotive and carriage design and construction was transferred to the more modern facilities at Eastleigh Works.
Ashford continued to operate both building and servicing locomotives and wagons until well after the nationalisation of the railways to form British Railways in 1948. The locomotive workshops closed on 16 June 1962, the last locomotive to be repaired at Ashford being N class 2-6-0 no. 31400 on 9 June. The wagon works continued for a further two decades producing continental ferry vans, Freightliner vehicles, merry-go-round coal hopper wagons and the Cartic4 articulated car transporter, it became one of British Rail Engineering Limited's main wagon works, but as trade declined the construction of wagons for export markets, it operated on an ever-decreasing scale until it closed down in 1982. The SER opened a locomotive depot at Ashford in December 1842, sited to the East of the station adjacent to the works; this was demolished in 1931, when the SR built a much larger facility on the other side of the main line. This was closed to steam locomotives in 1962, but used to service diesels until 1968.
Thereafter it has now been demolished. In 1853 the Locomotive Superintendent James I. Cudworth built the first of ten'Hastings' class 2-4-0 locomotives there. In 1855 these were followed by two freight engines. Over the next twenty years, Cudworth built 53 freight locomotives at Ashford and around 80 larger ones with six foot driving wheels, plus the first eight of his sixteen express passenger locos, the'Mails', with seven foot drivers, he produced four classes of 0-6-0 tank locomotives. In 1878 James Stirling, the brother of Patrick Stirling of the Great Northern Railway took over and introduced a deal of standardisation, he believed in the benefits of the bogie and produced a class of 4-4-0 with six foot drivers and his'0' class freight with five foot drivers. He produced over a hundred 0-4-4 tank engines, in 1898 the 4-4-0'B' Class; the first Locomotive, Carriage & Wagon Superintendent for the South Eastern and Chatham Railway was H. S. Wainwright who produced a series of successful and elegant designs at Ashford.
Wainwright's tender engines built at Ashford included 0-6-0 freight locomotives of the'C' class, the 4-4-0 passenger engines of the'D' and'E' classes. His tank engines built at the works included the versatile and long-lived 0-4-4'H' class, the larger 0-6-4'J' class and the diminutive 0-6-0 tank engines of the'P' class. Wainwright was followed by R. E. L. Maunsell, who introduced the unsuccessful'K' class 2-6-4 mixed traffic tank locomotives, the useful'N' class 2-6-0 mixed traffic locomotives in 1917. However, more of the'N' class locomotives were produced at the works, parts for'K' class locos that were assembled by Armstrong Whitworth of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1942 the works built twenty of the Bulleid'Q1' class 0-6-0, the remainder being built at Brighton Works. During the war years the works built a number of the LMS 8F type 2-8-0 freight locomotives for the War Department; the last of the 639 steam locomotives built. 8674. In 1937 it was involved with in the English Electric company in the construction of three experimental diesel-electric shunters and after the war, Ashford Works continued manufacturing a further series of 350 hp 0-6-0 diesel-electric shunters.
Under British Railways Ashford Works built the first two of the Southern Region prototype 1Co-Co1 diesel electric locomotives of the D16/2 class numbered 10201 and 10202 in 1951. In 1962 all locomotive production and repairs were moved to Eastleigh; the class letters were allotted to older classes by James Stirling in September 1879. Classes without such a letter were either extinct, or in the process of withdrawal at that date. Altogether, Ashford built 711 complete steam locomotives and finished 51 which were commenced elsewhere. There were 32 diesel and three electric locomotives, all of which incorporated parts made by outside contractors. Andrews, Frank W. G.. "Employment on the railways in east Kent, 1841-1914". Journal of Transport History. Bradley, D. L.. Locomotives of the Southern Railway: Part 1. London: RCTS. ISBN 0-901115-30-4. Bradley, D. L.. The Locomotive History of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway. London: RCTS. ISBN 0-901115-49-5. Bradley, D. L.. The Locomotive History of the South Eastern Railway.
London: RCTS. ISBN 0-901115-48-7. Griffiths, Roger.
Richard Maunsell
Richard Edward Lloyd Maunsell held the post of chief mechanical engineer of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway from 1913 until the 1923 Grouping and the post of CME of the Southern Railway in England until 1937. He was born on 26 May 1868 at County Dublin, in Ireland, he attended The Royal School, Armagh from 1882 to 1886. After graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, he began an apprenticeship at the Inchicore works of the Great Southern and Western Railway under H. A. Ivatt in 1886, completing his training at Horwich Works on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. At Horwich, he worked in the drawing office, before occupying the post of locomotive foreman in charge of the Blackpool and Fleetwood District. From there, he went to India in 1894, as assistant locomotive superintendent of the East India Railway, being subsequently district locomotive superintendent of the Asansol District, he returned in 1896 to become works manager at Inchicore on the GSWR, moving up to become locomotive superintendent in 1911.
In 1913, he was selected to succeed Harry Wainwright as CME of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. When that line was incorporated in the new Southern Railway, he became chief mechanical engineer of the latter, retiring in 1937, Oliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid taking over from him, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1918 New Year Honours for his efforts during the First World War. Among his many achievements was the introduction of the 4-6-0 SR Lord Nelson Class locomotives and the SR Class V or Schools Class, which were the ultimate and successful development of the British 4-4-0 express passenger type, he introduced pulverised fuel equipment and new types of valve gear. GB191419269, published 26 November 1914, Improvements relating to steam superheaters GB192985, published 15 February 1923, Improvements in or relating to condensers for lubricators of the condensation type GB202523, published 23 August 1923, A double-feed lubricator Locomotives of the Southern Railway Biographical notes
Dunkirk
Dunkirk, is a commune in Nord, a French department in northern France. It is the most northern city of France, it has the third-largest French harbour. The population of the commune at the 2016 census was 91,412; the name of Dunkirk derives from West Flemish dun'dune' or'dun' and kerke'church', which together means'church in the dunes'. Until the middle of the 20th century, the city was situated in the French Flemish area. Today Dunkirk is the world's northernmost Francophone city. A fishing village arose late in the tenth century, in the flooded coastal area of the English Channel south of the Western Scheldt, when the area was held by the Counts of Flanders, vassals of the French Crown. About 960AD, Count Baldwin III had a town wall erected in order to protect the settlement against Viking raids; the surrounding wetlands were cultivated by the monks of nearby Bergues Abbey. The name Dunkirka was first mentioned in a tithe privilege of 27 May 1067, issued by Count Baldwin V of Flanders. Count Philip I brought further large tracts of marshland under cultivation, laid out the first plans to build a Canal from Dunkirk to Bergues and vested the Dunkirkers with market rights.
In the late 13th century, when the Dampierre count Guy of Flanders entered into the Franco-Flemish War with his suzerain King Philippe IV of France, the citizens of Dunkirk sided with the French against their count, who at first was defeated at the 1297 Battle of Furnes, but reached de facto autonomy upon the victorious Battle of the Golden Spurs five years and exacted vengeance. Guy's son, Count Robert III granted further city rights to Dunkirk. Count Louis remained a loyal liensman of the French king upon the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War with England in 1337, prohibited the maritime trade, which led to another revolt by the Dunkirk citizens. After the count had been killed in the 1346 Battle of Crécy, his son and successor Count Louis II of Flanders signed a truce with the English. However, in the course of the Western Schism from 1378, English supporters of Pope Urban VI disembarked at Dunkirk, captured the city and flooded the surrounding estates, they left great devastations in and around the town.
Upon the extinction of the Counts of Flanders with the death of Louis II in 1384, Flanders was acquired by the Burgundian, Duke Philip the Bold. The fortifications were again enlarged, including the construction of a belfry daymark; as a strategic point, Dunkirk has always been exposed to political covetousness, by Duke Robert I of Bar in 1395, by Louis de Luxembourg in 1435 and by the Austrian archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg, who in 1477 married Mary of Burgundy, sole heiress of late Duke Charles the Bold. As Maximilian was the son of Emperor Frederick III, all Flanders was seized by King Louis XI of France. However, the archduke defeated the French troops in 1479 at the Battle of Guinegate; when Mary died in 1482, Maximilian retained Flanders according to the terms of the 1482 Treaty of Arras. Dunkirk, along with the rest of Flanders, was incorporated into the Habsburg Netherlands and upon the 1581 secession of the Seven United Netherlands, remained part of the Southern Netherlands, which were held by Habsburg Spain as Imperial fiefs.
The area remained much disputed between the Kingdom of Spain, the United Netherlands, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France. At the beginning of the Eighty Years' War, Dunkirk was in the hands of the Dutch rebels, from 1577. Spanish forces under Duke Alexander Farnese of Parma re-established Spanish rule in 1583 and it became a base for the notorious Dunkirkers; the Dunkirkers lost their home port when the city was conquered by the French in 1646 but Spanish forces recaptured the city in 1652. In 1658, as a result of the long war between France and Spain, it was captured after a siege by Franco-English forces following the battle of the Dunes; the city along with Fort-Mardyck was awarded to England in the peace the following year as agreed in the Franco-English alliance against Spain. The English governors were Sir Edward Harley and Lord Rutherford, it came under French rule when King Charles II of England sold it to France for £320,000 on 17 October 1662. The French government developed the town as a fortified port.
The town's existing defences were adapted to create ten bastions. The port was expanded in the 1670s by the construction of a basin that could hold up to thirty warships with a double lock system to maintain water levels at low tide; the basin was linked to the sea by a channel. This work was completed by 1678; the jetties were defended a few years by the construction of five forts, Château d'Espérance, Château Vert, Grand Risban, Château Gaillard, Fort de Revers. An additional fort was built in 1701 called Fort Blanc; the jetties, their forts, the port facilities were demolished in 1713 under the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht. During
