The Maunsell Forts were small fortified towers built in the Thames and Mersey estuaries during the Second World War to help defend the United Kingdom.
They were operated as army and navy forts, and named after their designer, Guy Maunsell. The forts were decommissioned in the late 1950s and later used for other activities. Two forts were simultaneously commissioned by the British Naval Command at the proposed site for the Prong's Lighthouse at the southernmost tip of Mumbai and the other one off the coast of the famous Mahalakshmi temple or Breach Candy as it is called. The controversial projects got the green light at the start of the war due to the immediate need for protecting the Empire's last colonial outposts. A total blueprint of 7 forts were drawn up but rising costs during the war forced the project to be shelved after the completion of these two forts. Ironically, recently, a few aggressive environmental groups have been squatting in these massive abandoned decrepit structures, environmental hazards in their own right; relics of the war which now serve as watchtowers for guerrilla tactics.
They were operated as army and navy forts, and named after their designer, Guy Maunsell. The forts were decommissioned in the late 1950s and later used for other activities. Two forts were simultaneously commissioned by the British Naval Command at the proposed site for the Prong's Lighthouse at the southernmost tip of Mumbai and the other one off the coast of the famous Mahalakshmi temple or Breach Candy as it is called. The controversial projects got the green light at the start of the war due to the immediate need for protecting the Empire's last colonial outposts. A total blueprint of 7 forts were drawn up but rising costs during the war forced the project to be shelved after the completion of these two forts. Ironically, recently, a few aggressive environmental groups have been squatting in these massive abandoned decrepit structures, environmental hazards in their own right; relics of the war which now serve as watchtowers for guerrilla tactics.