Fort Luton

The construction of Fort Luton was planned in the course of the 1859/60 Royal Commission on the Defences of the United Kingdom but was initially postponed for cost reasons. Only in 1872 was the land acquired, and in 1876, after parliamentary approval, construction began under the supervision of the War Office. The work, which also involved convict labor, was protracted due to a lack of funding and the frequent change of workforce. An original design by W.F. Jervois was later modified, with a quarter of the facility, including the main magazine, being omitted. Completion finally occurred in 1892.