Burton Battery was built during the French Revolutionary Wars and was definitely operations by 1801 when it mount two 20-pdr SB guns on garrison carriages. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1816) Burton Battery mounted four 20-pdr SB guns. There is a magazine built to the rear of the battery, shielded by a small rock outcrop.
Plans from 1841 show the battery with two guns facing towards the sea, and then a single gun angled to both the West and East. The rear of the battery is protected with a loop holed wall, and the current site of the magazine also has an artillery store. There was also a small barracks on the West side for fourteen men, now lost (TNA MPH 1.868).
During World War 2, the German occupying forces built Wiederstandsnest Lowenfels, a smaller strong point at Burton Battery. This included an 8cm mortar, a 3.7cm PAK turret, three flamethrowers and machine guns. A large bunker was built in the gorge of the battery.