Fowey Battery (St Catherine’s Castle) was an early coastal defence fortification built by Henry VII with a blockhouse on the opposite shore. The artillery tower was built between 1539 and 1540 and had two levels of guns. In 1796 the Battery, also known as St Catherine’s Castle, mounted two 18-pdr, two 12-pdr and a single 6-pdr gun, but these were removed in 1815.
In 1855 or 1856 construction of a new coastal defence battery began. The Boundary Stones on site are clearly marked 1855 indicating that work had started by this time, although this could relate to the date that authority was given to build the battery. Two 32-pdr smooth bore guns were mounted in 1858 in sone barbette emplacement. The guns were on traversing platforms that allowed the guns to fire over the two stone parapets. The magazine for Fowey Battery was initially inside the old Henrician Tower. The magazine was later moved to the flat area outside the tower and abutting the loopholed wall, but nothing remains of this.
In 1873 the two 32-pdr SB guns were replaced by two 64-pdr RML guns in the same emplacements.
Fowey Battery with the 32-pdrs was developed in 1855 at about the same time as Rye Battery. It bears similarities with this battery.
Between 1940 and 1945 there were two 4.7-inch guns mounted at Fowey Battery. One of the 4.7-inch guns was mounted in a roofed gun house to the rear of the A gun emplacement. The other 4.7-inch gun was mounted on the hill to the rear. Apart from foundations little remains of this World War 2 battery apart from a complete magazine on the east side overlooking Readymoney Cove.
The UK National Archives papers include:
WO 78/4494 1866 Paper on Fowey and Padstow Batteries
WO 192/147 1940 to 1945 Fowey Battery in WW2
MPHH 1/453 1881 Map of Fowey Battery
WO 30/66 1796 to 1812 Coastal Defence in the West and other areas
WO 396/1 1870 to 1889 Defence Committee Reports