Coalhouse Fort, rather the area that it was built on, has had over 600 years of military history associated there. The current fort was completed in 1874 defending the River Thames and ultimately London. It is one of the Palmerston forts, built from a recommendation of the Royal Commission in 1860 for protection, mainly from the French. Continuing it's defensive role through the two World Wars it was eventually sold by the MOD to Thurrock Council in 1962. The council have leased out the fort since 1983 to the Coalhouse Fort Project, a charity with the ultimate aim of restoring it to it's former glory as a military garrison. Many of the volunteers that work at the fort have been witness to various paranormal and unexplained occurrences, including replay's of a wartime poker game, footsteps and heavy dragging noises, strange smells and voices. A variety of apparitions have been supposedly witnessed throughout the fort, while there are reports of numerous cold spots, and batteries draining for no apparent reason.