Buy a Fort
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A maritime fort constructed in the 1860s in the middle of the Thames Estuary is on the market for half a million pounds, or roughly $835,000.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl5azo24aerXWApDykjB7fVcNoB1OUH8TIAd4QcCFGuPojfMIeuSeS8DhzWKRnBsoYDDvUmgjCs4EqMUwG-nkXiKlq1nBdIEm8VwNAbxREUHJhgSFBsGINc4bEqePH7pLjA1f0kA/s1600/fort10.jpg)
With its fifteen-foot thick walls and insanely daunting approach—accessible on foot only at low tide and, even then, after a squelching walk across seemingly endless mudflats—it's certainly a good option if you're looking for solitude. Here it is on Google Maps.
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At first glance, it's an amazing offshore castle, a fairy tale artificial island of 19th-century military Romanticism roughly an hour's boat ride east of London.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik_QtGOfXAGA2L4cpG-pFu6T8qQxx76Idok7YYpwAuSBFOIM3HieDgqKWRDQt2gGrBp9iTFD6mQyPqnbBaJ94nEehdX2kjMkZ_L1jltKVJZV94cWJROz9nRcXUoUFC_Ka1bUvhgg/s1600/fort7.jpg)
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But don't jump in too quickly, lest you overlook the ruinous state of the place: it needs almost literally everything, from plumbing to electricity, glass windows to the most thorough cleaning you could imagine, having been open to the oceanic elements for decades.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiOBiA32wKmLh8zghyphenhyphenTEzhe8svI2ca4u1ncQ9ksW_cXuXyV50JZl9o_hZscB12f8Y2XD1dxOAHgUTpDcq_YZx23x7EsJ6vXEU5xaQ6rAT2zrUEveDDJaXDZBtbWbyLm11SafqNPQ/s1600/fort9.jpg)
The BBC has a video of the place, complete with a muddy walk-through and shots at both low and high tide.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEispHW_E4ac8CSd7fN0yHNYHt9Zlm6uv81YH3vTQMo7BqNgaf_6OxrHvsFL3tOa_XU1zV01mtSjBLvLUjoNN_qW0PwK8VNdDwe_VlHjCj7ZOTfAqvkK1ra7_gkAq58xrj_CPZZd0A/s1600/fort-tide1.jpg)
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All negatives aside, though, this looks awesome; convince your billionaire best friend to buy it and we'll turn it into an offshore architecture school with an elective minor in the design of fortified micronations, complete with a bizarre summer school featuring boat-borne reenactments of famous sea battles throughout history...
(Spotted via @subbrit. Previously on BLDGBLOG: Buy a Lighthouse, Buy an Underground Kingdom, Buy a Prison, Buy a Tube Station, Buy an Archipelago, Buy a Map, Buy a Torpedo-Testing Facility, Buy a Silk Mill, Buy a Fort, Buy a Church).
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Quick! To the hovercraft!
ed
Your insurers may object to its proximity to the SS Richard Montgomery A US WW2 Liberty ship that sunk nearby and still has 1400 lbs of unexplored ordinance still on board. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery
Bradley Garrett, the academic/urban explorer has a post on his blog about he and some friends overnighting in this place.
http://www.bradleygarrett.com/our-own-private-island/
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