 Between 1670 and 1682, the Tilbury blockhouse was substantially rebuilt into a much larger fortification (Tilbury Fort) and Coalhouse Fort was built further down river, close to the second blockhouse.The importance of the forts in defending the country continued through Napoleonic times and into the two world wars.The land where Tilbury Town now stands was farmland and marsh grazing until the building of the docks in the 1890s.