Drop Battery

Posted on November 5, 2022 / 4
Listing Type : Coastal Battery
Location : England

Drop Battery is an often forgotten site as it has largely been demolished and lies in dense scrub. Built in 1853 the battery was originally armed with eight 8-inch Howitzers on barbette mounts. Consideration was given to using 42-pdr guns (originally introduced in 1840s) and it is accessed that these were used.

Between 1859 and 1862 Drop Battery was upgraded and a new magazine (G Magazine) was built.  Alterations to the main lines, let to the building of a new emplacement above the G Magazine, possibly armed with a 7-inch RBL or 64-pdr RML.

1876 returns show the battery to be armed with six guns, three of the old 42-pdr guns and three of the new 7-inch RBL guns.  The whole battery was armed with 64-pdr RML guns after this date and by 1886 mounted five of these guns.

The battery was disarmed in 1886.  A miniature rifle range was built on the site in 1926.

Little trace of the original battery remains but the G Magazine is in good condition in 2022.

UK National Archives 

WO 55/785

WORK 43/1598

WD 2411a

View the English Heritage Report from 2001 by P. Pattison, M. Brown & A. Williams concerning Drop Battery and G Magazine

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