Landguard Fort

Landguard Fort stands on the northern bank of the River Orwell it has seen a number of changes over the years.

In 1543 Henry VIII had two blockhouses built which quickly deteriorated, so in 1552 the guns were returned to the Tower of London.

In 1628, a new Fort was built of earth riveted with wood; it was square with a bastion on each corner.

In 1666, under Charles II, repairs were completed and a brick wall constructed around the Fort.

In July 1667 the Fort was attacked on the landward side by Admiral de Ruyter and his Dutch marines. The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot commanded by Captain Nathaniel Darell, defeated the attack and this event is still commemorated today.

A new brick Fort was constructed, in 1717 but gave way to a new structure in 1744, when a new red brick Fort was built in the form of a pentagon, with a bastion at each corner. These walls remain today.

When the Coastal Artillery was disbanded in 1956, the fort was sealed up and left to quietly disintegrate until in 1997 the fort was structurally consolidated by English Heritage, into whose care it had been placed and has been maintained and opened to the public on their behalf by the Landguard Fort Trust.

Tales of Landguard Fort

At Landguard Fort a ghostly coach pulled by a team of horses is said to cross a ditch next to the fort, where the drawbridge once lay.

Military persons have also been seen walking into Landguard Fort and then disappearing.

The fort is the site of an alleged suicide. A ghostly white figure  is sometimes seen dangling from the roof beams. It is thought that he was one of the soldiers who was involved in the death of a colleague and through guilt subsequently hanged himself.  

The ghost of a soldier has been seen in the bathroom area. The story is that there were five or six soldiers and they had been drinking too much and they were skylarking about. They thought it would be great fun to throw one of the soldiers into the hot bath with his uniform on. Unfortunately he hit his head on the taps; he slipped under the water and drowned. The soldiers covered up the death and it is thought that this soldier walks the fort seeking revenge.

An artillery man dressed in Victorian clothing has been seen walking through the wall in the shop, he grins and then disappears back through the wall. Model air fix kits have also been known to shoot off the shelves on their own in what could be referred to as classic poltergeist activity.

The Chapel Bastion so named as there used to be a big chapel extending right out from the bastion which housed big guns. One haunting in particular is thought to be a Georgian soldier about seventeen years old who died from a strange type of tropical disease. It is said that he was posted abroad and on his return developed plaque like symptoms, he was quarantined in secret in the bastion. He was the only son of a widow and had wanted his mother to know that he had not deserted her but due to his illness was not allowed to see her. He is sometimes heard crying and has been seen crouching in a corner of the room. Whenever the door to this part of the fort is propped open it mysteriously shuts on its own.

A solitary musketeer bearing a musket on his shoulder has been seen slowly walking along the rampart of what would have been the Holland bastion. Many reports of people coming on to this bastion knowing nothing at all about the ghost stories have said their dogs behaved oddly backing away as if something was there.

Felixstowe Stories

For hundreds of years Felixstowe was little more than a few homes scattered on the cliff tops until it was developed for port and tourism purposes in the 19th century.

During the late Victorian period it became a fashionable resort, a trend initiated by the opening of Felixstowe railway station, the pier and a visit by the then German imperial family. It remained so until the late 1930s. During the Second World War the majority of the pier, at the time one of the longest in the country and complete with its own train was purposely demolished by Royal Engineers to prevent it being used as an easy landing point for enemy troops. Unfortunately after the war the damage was never repaired and the pier never regained its original length.

A museum telling the story of Felixstowe, with a reference library, historic maps, photo archive and 14 rooms of artefacts from Roman finds, the Martello Towers, military social and domestic history through two world wars and into the new Millennium is managed by volunteers from the Felixstowe History and Museum Society.

A  ghostly black shuck dog with malevolent flaming eyes, roams the coastline of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. The story originated in the, era of the Vikings, he is also known as the doom dog, those that meet him have no hope. He has flaming, saucer like eyes and in some versions of the stories he has one eye in the middle of his forehead.

Here at the coast on Felixstowe 8 people standing looking out to sea saw a dark perfectly formed UFO in the shape of a circle move across the sky, there were no lights showing from it. On another occasion a group of people saw a fiery orb with flames coming from it.

At the railway tracks' leading into Ipswich, a young girl was struck down by a train, her ghost still wanders the tracks.