starforts.org forum

Hello Starfortians,

After watching Colm Gibneys video on Starfort hedgehogs of various cities in Europe I thought I’d try and see if there was one in London, not sure if this topic has been discussed yet. Upon studying some old maps of London I came to realise that the site that The Tower of London is on is actually the site of a star fortress with the city wall being the larger part of the fortress. Although it is an irregular shape and not as easily identifiable as one I do believe this to be the case.

Lewis

Great spot, Lewis. Hedgehog, for sure.

That reminds me - I keep meaning to mention something I saw nearly 25 years ago - I was in The City of London (to sell a bank something it didn't really need) and I had to park somewhere near the area of the road 'London Wall'. There was an underground carpark along London Wall itself (it was either public or belonged to the bank - can't remember) and I drove down to park. Smack in the middle of the car park was a section of an ancient wall - claimed to be 'roman' - about 15m long x 3m high, encased in a glass or perspex display.

Here's another example - https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2014/0 ... -car-park/

I'm now wondering if the 'head' of the hedgehog (which became the Tower of London) was on raised ground in relation to the rest of the wall system, surviving (to a greater extent) the flood that buried the lower lying walling system. Which raises the question - were all 'hedgehog heads' on higher ground, perhaps?

Hello Fenton,

Nice to meet you. Maybe Colm might have an answer to that question. I think maybe the heads of the hedgehogs were indeed on higher ground as that’s where the most important thing was that needed to be protected not that that’s what starforts use were originally intended for but since they were fortified the that may well be the case. I’ve seen sections of the old wall that they’ve uncovered and are now preserving, that one in the carpark is very odd. They actually have these Silver Griffin statues with shields baring the Red Cross that circle around the banking district. Apparently they represent the financial banking zone of the city of London and are protectors of the wealth.