NOTHE Fort in Weymouth has been named as one of the top 10 spookiest locations across the UK.

The fort, which was built in 1860 as part of the defence of Portland Harbour, has been ranked fourth best place for ghost hunters in a survey by the National Lottery.

It was beaten only in spookiness by Muncaster Castle in Cumbria, the Tower of London and Oxford Castle.

The list, which ranks the most haunted Lottery-funded locations, puts Nothe Fort ahead of Scotland's historic Tolbooth in Stirling and the RRS Discovery ship in Dundee, and Wales's Dyffryn Gardens in Vale of Glamorgan and Ruthin Gaol.

It is also said to be more haunted than Castle Espie Wetland Centre of County Down, and Springhill House of Moneymore, Northern Ireland.

The survey found that more than a third of people questioned said they believed in the supernatural and, among the believers, 37 per cent said they had seen a ghost.

Castles and stately homes were named as the places most likely to be haunted - according to those who believed in ghosts - with other prime spots including old buildings, old pubs and graveyards.

With more than 70 rooms on three levels, Nothe Fort was originally designed and constructed by the Royal Engineers to house a 12-gun battery of massive cannons.

It was later adapted for modern guns and remained in active service until 1956 when coastal defence was abandoned.

In 1961 the fort was sold to Weymouth and Portland Borough Council and restored and opened to the public by Weymouth Civic Society, and earlier this year it reopened again after a £2.4 million conservation programme Chairman of the civic society, Derek Cope, said: "Personally, I'm not a great believer in ghosts, but it has enormous at-mosphere and I could believe it.

"Many people come back more than once. The feeling of great presence is stimulated by the sheer history of the place - the history of how this country defended itself over the last 200 years against all-comers.

"They say a gun never fired in anger from the fort. The sheer presence of coastal defences such as Nothe Fort has been an enormous deterrent and why we stayed free for man