Grain Island Firing Point was in effect an out station for the main testing area at Shoeburyness. In 1849 the Board off Ordnance established a site in Shoeburyness, Essex for the testing of new artillery weapons. This site was chosen because it was relatively remote but close to Woolwich Arsenal allowing for the transfer of artillery pieces by barge. By 1854 Shoeburyness was established with a permanent garrison and a dedicated school of gunnery was set up in 1859. In 1905 the Shoeburyness site became known as the Experimental Branch.
With the increasing range of guns an alternate location was sought outside the 200 acres at Shoeburyness. The site at Yantlet was chosen as guns mounted here could fire across the Thames estuary to ‘hit’ points in the Shoeburyness complex. The Grain Island Firing Point was established in 1917 by the War Department with a dock, wharf and railway track. The site was designated as the Grain Island Firing Point or Yantlet Battery.
Reference in the National Archives:
TNA WO 78/4370
TNA WO 78/5129