Tower · England · Still standing
HM Fort Roughs
HM Fort Roughs (Roughs Tower) is a World War II Maunsell sea fort — a rectangular steel deck supported by two large hollow reinforced-concrete cylindrical towers sited on a sandbar in the North Sea. Built as a naval installation with gun emplacements, living quarters and service spaces, it later became the occupied platform known as the Principality of Sealand. The structure rests on twin 24-foot-diameter concrete towers joined by a steel platform deck with a small central superstructure and a landing jetty and crane at one end.
First raised
1942
Its prime
1942
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1942
What HM Fort Roughs looked like in its prime.
A rectangular 51-by-27 m steel platform deck sits atop two 18 m tall, 7.3 m diameter hollow reinforced-concrete towers that rise from the sea; the towers are pale grey concrete with vertical joints and the deck supports a central multi-storey superstructure, short mast and radar rigging. At each end of the main deck are circular anti-aircraft gun positions and railings; one end has a steel framework crane and a wooden landing stage (the "dolphin"). Surfaces are painted dark on metalwork and show service fittings and access ladders.
Step inside
11 places to explore in 1942.
The record describes 11 distinct spots at HM Fort Roughs, including 4 interiors: central living area — galley and mess, officers' quarters and bunks, tower interior — stair and access ladders and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more photos, more angles and more of the immersive experience.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate HM Fort Roughs with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1942, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Tower to Explore →Whose seat
Families who held HM Fort Roughs.
The families tied to HM Fort Roughs across its history, follow a name to its page.
Occupied in 1967 by Roy Bates, who declared the wartime fort the Principality of Sealand; the Bates family has held it ever since.
Nearby
