Shoreham fort was built in 1857. The fort was built as a deterant to possible invading French people in the 19th Century. The idea of building the forts came about in the 1850's. The fort is just one of a number of forts built along the coast, and its design was based on the one at Littlehampton which was finished just 3 years before. Shoreham was built at a cost of £11,685.
The main differences between the two is that Shoreham has caponniers instead of open bastions and that Shoreham had 6 gun emplacements unlike Littlehampton's 5. Shoreham Fort once consisted of a gun platform 15 ft (4.6m) above sea level and was in the shape of a lunette, that is a straight sided crescent. The gun platform and ramparts were surrounded by a ditch, with a Carnot wall running along its centre, designed to halt attackers attempting to cross the ditch. The wall itself had loopholes for defenders to fire through. The fort was armed with six 68 pounder guns on traversing platforms
In the place of the open bastions at the Littlehampton fort Shoreham had a caponnier with a brick roof at each of the three angles of the walls. This meant that riflemen could fire along the walls at besiegers in the ditch. The central caponnier straddled the ditch and was connected to the fort by a tunnel under the gun platform and ramparts. The East and West caponniers doubled as latrines. A barrack block at the rear had room for 38 men.
You may also be watched by those in the lookout station. They are all volunteers and look over the water (and land) in replacement for the loss of coastguard stations around the UK. You are able to go in and see what they do in the station.