Military Wiki
Watch House Battery
Devon
England
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Watch House Battery
Coordinates Coordinates: 50°19′27″N 4°6′56″W / 50.32417°N 4.11556°W / 50.32417; -4.11556
Site information
Open to
the public
No
Condition Complete; disarmed
Site history
Built 1864-1865; Rebuilt 1901-1904
Materials Earth
Concrete

Watch House Battery is a former 19th-century gun battery, built as one of a number of batteries to defend the Eastern approaches to Plymouth Sound, for the defence of the Royal Naval Dockyard at Devonport.

The battery was originally built as a small pentagonal redoubt with emplacements for five guns. By 1893 it was armed with two 64 Pounder Rifled Muzzle Loading Guns. In 1901 the battery was reconstructed for two 6-inch Mark VII breech loading guns with the work being completed in 1903.[1] During the First World War the battery was manned by the Devonshire Royal Garrison Artillery.[2]

After the Second World War the battery remained armed until the dissolution of coast artillery in the United Kingdom in 1956 when it was disarmed.[3] It was released by the military and subsequently used as a children's activity centre for some years.[4] It was Grade II listed in 1969.[5]

References[]

  1. Maps and Plans, Watch House Battery 1904-40, The National Archives, WO78/5058
  2. Col K W Maurice-Jones, 1959. The History of Coast Artillery in the British Army, Royal Artillery Institution, London, p187
  3. Fort Record book, Watch House Battery 1901-53, The National Archives, WO192/292
  4. https://www.victorianforts.co.uk/pdf/datasheets/watchhouse.pdf
  5. "Staddon Height Defences - 1002585". Historic England. 2014-02-27. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1002585. Retrieved 2018-12-20. 

Bibliography[]

  • Woodward, Freddy (1996). The Historic Defences of Plymouth. Cornwall County Council. ISBN 978-1898166467. 

External sources[]

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