BRING OUT THE BIG GUNS

The artillery collection of the Royal Armouries, housed within Fort Nelson, is a fascinating visit; in fact there’s so much of it you should make this a weekend – walk the hill one day, and give Fort Nelson the full day after. As well as telling the story of the fort itself, the museum houses a staggering array of weaponry, from Mallet’s Mortar (the largest-bore mortar ever made, capable of hurling a 1-ton bomb into the air) to gigantic railway howitzers, to the gun carriage that carried the body of Queen Victoria from her home at Osborne House to Cowes for her final journey to Windsor. Among its latterday attractions are two sections of ‘Project Babylon’, the Iraqi Supergun, seized while in covert transit to Saddam Hussein in 1990. The fort also has the most visitable subterranean tunnels of any of the Portsdown forts, giving a sneaky peek into the labyrinth of walkways lying beneath the grass. It’s an astonishing place to visit – and a great walk in itself. royalarmouries.org

WORLD OF WEAPONS A Victorian barrack room; the 18-inch railway howitzer; and part of the Iraqi Supergun (it would have included 26 sections like this!).

RELOAD! This underground conveyor belt moved ammunition to a Bofors gun during the Second World War.