Watch House Battery

Watch House Battery
Devon England
Watch House Battery
Coordinates	50°19′27″N 4°6′56″W
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. "Watch House (Brake) Battery" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
5. Historic England (27 February 2014). "Staddon Height Defences (1002585)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 December 2018.

Bibliography

• Hogg, Ian V (1974). Coast Defences of England and Wales 1856-1956. David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153 6353-0.
• Woodward, Freddy (1996). The Historic Defences of Plymouth. Cornwall County Council. ISBN 978-1898166467.

External sources

• Victorian Forts data sheet on Watch House Battery