York Redoubt is one of the key fortifications defending the approaches to Halifax anchorage. Work started on the site in 1793 when a redoubt was built here with a Martello Tower. The remains of this Martello Tower can still be seen, now converted to a blockhouse. The site was twice upgraded, once in the 1860s and then again in the 1880s.
The first incarnation of the battery was about 1800 with eight 24-pdr smooth bore guns in a fan shape overlooking the water channel. The rear was protected by a Martello Tower. Along the gun line there were eight Cartridge Stores and eight Shell Stores. Buildings inside the Redoubt included a coal store (old tower), Side arms and tackle Store, 9-inch filling store, Artillery General store, Brand and meat stores, ablutions, Cook house, Field Forge, Lamp store, wine cellar, laboratory and store for moveable armaments. The plans also show a new underground Engine House and oil store.
In 1873 the whole complex was remodelled to mount five 9-inch, three 10-inch and 64-pdr RML guns. There was a new underground magazine built on the Eastern end which held 498 barrels and 2,400 cylinders. The whole gun line was protected to the rear by a loopholed wall with caponiers and musketry galleries.
Remodelled again in 1900, a battery of two 64-pdr RML guns were added to the East end to provide defence from land attack. A 6-pdr Q.F. Battery with two guns and a magazine was built into the cliff below Yor Redoubt.
In 1903 the 6-pdr Battery was moved up to the main York Redoubt itself and the two 6-pdr guns mounted in the Western 9-inch RML emplacements. These 6-pdr guns were upgraded to 12-pdr Q.F. guns.