Browndown Battery, also referred to erroneously in some sources as Browndown Fort, is a former military coastal defence fortification and base on the Southern shoreline of England in the county of Hampshire. First erected in the mid-1840s, the battery was continuously modified until disarmed in 1905/6. It has been a Grade II Listed Building since 1983. [1]
The first batteries at Browndown were erected on the shore at Browndown Point to the west end of Stokes Bay at Gosport to defend the western approach to Portsmouth harbour and to prevent an enemy landing on the beach. These batteries were known as Browndown Battery East and Browndown Battery West. They were complete by 1852 but were heavily criticised by James Fergusson (who was later to become the Treasury Representative on the 1860 Royal Commission into the defences of the United Kingdom) in his papers The Peril of Portsmouth and Portsmouth Protected. [2] According to an armament list of 1860 Browndown Battery East had positions for three 68pr of 112 cwt. and seven 8-inch smooth bore guns of 65 cwt. whilst Browndown Battery West had positions for three 68pr. and eight 8-inch smooth bore guns. [3] Ordnance Survey maps indicate the eastern battery had fallen in disuse by 1870 [4] whilst the western one was retained until it was replaced by a new battery as part of the western defences of Portsmouth Harbour.
In 1890 The Defence Committee reviewed a proposal to remove or remodel the two old Browndown Batteries in Stokes Bay, and recommended that the Eastern Battery, being superseded by the work at the western extremity of the Stokes Bay Lines, and interfering with the fire of that work, should be removed; that the western battery should be retained, as it is of value to flank the beach, but that its present armament may be removed. [5]
Although the completion of the Stokes Bay Lines in 1860 had rendered the Browndown Batteries obsolete, there was a need for a battery to protect the deep water anchorage off Browndown Point and the new Browndown Battery was constructed for two 12.5-inch R.M.L. guns [6] on the site of the old Browndown battery West, paid for under the Imperial Defence Loan of 1888 at a cost of £4,237. [7] Building commenced in October 1888 and was completed in August 1889. [8] The rear wall (or gorge) of the old battery was retained and two sea facing concrete emplacements were constructed for the new 12.5-inch R.M.L. guns on C pivot dwarf traversing platforms. The magazines for shells and cartridges were placed between the two emplacements. A side arm and artillery store was built to the right of the battery. [9]
In 1890 it was proposed to update the armament of the Stokes Bay defences by adding two 6-inch and two 9.2-inch B.L. guns at either end of the Bay. These guns formed the standard coast defence artillery of this period and always operated in pairs of complementary guns to counter armoured and unarmoured ships (blockers). [10] Fort Gilkicker was remodeled for two 6 inch and two 9.2-inch B.L. guns at the east end of the bay whilst Stokes Bay Lines No.2 Battery was remodeled to hold the western two 6-inch B.L. guns. Its complementary guns, two 9.2-inch B.L. guns were to be fitted to Browndown Battery. The new battery had the usual shell and cartridge store between the two gun emplacements which were extended and enlarged from the old R.M.L.magazines. To the west of the magazines a cookhouse was added. Two crew shelters were also added in the extension. A Battery Command Post and telephone room were constructed above the Artillery Store at the west end. This communicated with the Battery Command post on No.2 Battery of the Stokes Bay Lines and with those at Fort Gilkicker.
The new battery received its armament of two 9.2-inch B.L. Mark 10 guns on Barbette 5 mountings by 1904 [11] but was declared superfluous by the Owen Committee in 1905. The guns mounted at Browndown and Gilkicker only cover an area accessible to vessels which have forced the outer defences, to do which such vessels would certainly have to be prepared to suffer the damage which the naval opinion, already quoted, considers sufficient to deter the attempt. The Committee, therefore consider these works as superfluous and the modern conditions laid down for their guidance. [12] This was the death knell for the battery. It was disarmed in 1906 [13]
The battery was retained by the army as part of the Browndown Training facility and Browndown Ranges. It saw a brief new lease of life when a lookout post was constructed on top of the east gun position as part of the training area used by the combined services hovercraft unit. According to the military authorities Browndown Battery is a listed building and because of its location inside a military training area, it is in excellent condition. though modified and strengthened many times during its history much of the original building is still identifiable. [14]
Browndown Camp at the site was a barracks facility with an attached assault course and a 25-metre small arms firing range. The fort itself was utilized in some defensive tactical training, but was too small for use in OBUA (Operations in Built Up Areas) exercises. The Camp was used by Her Majesty's Naval Service's Royal Marines' Small Arms Corps from 1922 to 1959; the British Army's South East District command as a Minor Training Facility in 1961, and by 121 Weekend Training Centre up to the mid-1970s. Subsequently, its facilities were used by the ACF, CCF, ATC and the Territorial Army.
In 2002 it was used as the setting for the historical reality series Lads' Army as a mock 1950's British Army National Service training course, and was utilised again times in 2005 by the series renamed Bad Lads' Army as a mock Officer Cadet School.
In 2009 the Ministry of Defence concluded in a review of its estates that Browndown Camp was surplus to requirement and it was closed. The site was released and sold to a private contractor for £754,000 in 2012. [15] The beach at the site is still used for military training in Amphibious Warfare given its vicinity to the Marchwood Military Port.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
The Admiralty Pier Turret, or Dover Turret, is an enclosed armoured turret built in 1882 on the western breakwater of Dover Harbour in southeast England. It contains two Fraser RML 16 inch 80 ton guns, the biggest installed in the United Kingdom. Declared obsolete in 1902, it is currently part of the port and inaccessible, though the guns remain in place.
Garrison Point Fort is a former artillery fort situated at the end of the Garrison Point peninsula at Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. Built in the 1860s in response to concerns about a possible French invasion, it was the last in a series of artillery batteries that had existed on the site since the mid-16th century. The fort's position enabled it to guard the strategic point where the River Medway meets the Thames. It is a rare example of a two-tiered casemated fort – one of only two of that era in the country – with a design that is otherwise similar to that of several of the other forts along the lower Thames. It remained operational until 1956 and is now used by the Sheerness Docks as a port installation.
Coalhouse Fort is an artillery fort in the eastern English county of Essex. It was built in the 1860s to guard the lower Thames from seaborne attack. It stands at Coalhouse Point on the north bank of the river, at a location near East Tilbury which was vulnerable to raiders and invaders. It was the last in a series of fortifications dating back to the 15th century and was the direct successor to a smaller mid-19th century fort built on the same site. Constructed during a period of tension with France, its location on marshy ground caused problems from the start and led to a lengthy construction process. The fort was equipped with a variety of large-calibre artillery guns and the most modern defensive facilities of the time, including shell-proof casemates protected by granite facing and cast-iron shields. Its lengthy construction and the rapid pace of artillery development at the time meant that it was practically obsolete for its original purpose within a few years of its completion.
Beacon Hill Battery is a late-19th and 20th century coastal fortification that was built to defend the port of Harwich, Essex. It is a scheduled ancient monument.
Fort Gilkicker is a historic Palmerston fort built at the eastern end of Stokes Bay, Gosport, Hampshire England to dominate the key anchorage of Spithead. It was erected between 1863 and 1871 as a semi-circular arc with 22 casemates, to be armed with five twelve-inch guns, seventeen ten-inch guns and five nine-inch guns. The actual installed armament rather differed from this. In 1902 the RML guns were replaced by two 9.2-inch and two six-inch BL guns, and before the First World War the walls were further strengthened with substantial earthwork embankments. The fort was disarmed in 1956 and used for storage until 1999, and is currently in a state of disrepair.
Fort Fareham is one of the Palmerston Forts, in Fareham, England. After the Gosport Advanced Line of Fort Brockhurst, Fort Elson, Fort Rowner, Fort Grange and Fort Gomer had been approved by the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom a decision was made to build an outer line of three more forts two miles in advance of the Gosport Advanced Line. Of these three projected forts only Fort Fareham was built due to the need to cut costs. It acted as a hinge between the forts on Portsdown Hill and those of the Gosport Advanced Line, filling the gap at Fareham. It has been a Grade II Listed Building since 1976.
Whitsand Bay, situated in south east Cornwall, England, runs from Rame Head in the east to Portwrinkle in the west. It is characterised by sheer, high cliffs, dramatic scenery and long stretches of sandy beaches. The South West Coast Path runs the length of the bay.
Puckpool Battery is a battery located at Puckpool Point, close to the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight. It is one of the many Palmerston Forts built on the island to protect it in response to a perceived French invasion. Construction of the battery began in 1863 and was completed by March 1865.
Cliff End Battery is a battery on the west coast of the Isle of Wight overlooking Fort Albert. It is one of the many Palmerston Forts built on the island to protect it in response to a perceived French invasion. Construction of the battery began in 1862 and was completed by 1868 at a cost of £32,714.
Fort Ballance is a former coastal artillery battery on Point Gordon on Wellington's Miramar Peninsula.
The Stokes Bay Lines were part of the great Victorian fortification of Portsmouth Harbour under Lord Palmerston. In 1857 Major Jervois had proposed a complex system of moats (ditches), ramparts and batteries to close off the gap between the new fort at Fort Gomer, and the earlier fort at Fort Gilkicker, and Fort Monckton. This defensive moat was to become the ‘Stokes Bay Lines’.
Fort Monckton is a historic military fort on the south-east shoreline of the Gosport peninsula, Hampshire. Built on the ruins of Haselworth Castle to protect Portsmouth Harbour at the start of the American War of Independence, it was rebuilt in the 1880s as a Palmerston fort.
Fort Elson was one of the early Palmerston Forts, in Gosport, England, the northernmost polygonal land fort in the defence line to the west of Gosport. It was located on land immediately to the south of Elson Creek, to which it was connected by a sluice. Fort Elson was the most northerly fort in the line of five which formed part of the ‘Sea Front and Spithead Defences’, Inner Line, Land Front, Left Flank. This line of forts was later known as the Gomer-Elson Line or 'Gosport Advanced Line' This consisted of, from south to north, Fort Gomer, Fort Grange, Fort Rowner, Fort Brockhurst and Fort Elson. Work began on Fort Elson in 1855. The estimated cost of Fort Elson was £63,740 with the actual cost £61,180.
Pembroke Battery was an artillery battery in Pembroke, Malta, Malta. It was built by the British between 1897 and 1899, and most of it was demolished in the 1980s.
Fort Davis, is a coastal defence fortification close to Whitegate, County Cork, Ireland. Together with similar structures at Fort Mitchel, Fort Camden (Crosshaven), and Templebreedy Battery, the fort was built to defend the mouth of Cork Harbour. Though used as a fortification from the early 17th century, the current structures of the 74-acre site date primarily from the 1860s. Originally named Fort Carlisle and operated by the British Armed Forces, the fort was handed-over to the Irish Defence Forces in 1938, and renamed Fort Davis. The facility is owned by the Department of Defence, and is used as a military training site with no public access.
Maker Battery is a former 19th-century coastal artillery battery, built to strengthen the defence of the Royal Naval Dockyard at Devonport.
Grenville Battery is a former coastal artillery battery, built to defend the Royal Naval Dockyard at Devonport.
Raleigh Battery is a former coastal artillery battery, built to defend the Royal Naval Dockyard at Devonport.
Hawkins Battery is a former coastal artillery battery, built to defend the Royal Naval Dockyard at Devonport.
Rame Church Battery was a gun battery in south east Cornwall. It was built between 1889 and 1893 to defend HMNB Devonport from Rame area and was demolished and infilled in the early 1970s.