Padstow Battery was originally used during the Napoleonic Wars with four SB guns, but abandoned in 1815. The Victorian Battery appears to have been built about 1868 (from boundary stones) for use by the Padstow Artillery Volunteers. By 1888 it was armed with a singe 64-pdr RML and a 32-pdr SB. It is believed the RML was in the circular gun pit, now covered over, while the 32-pdr was in the adjacent barbette mount. By 1890, the 32-pdr had been replaced by another 64-pdr RML giving two similar guns. A caretakers bungalow was also built about 1888 in the gorge of the battery, and a water tank from this date survives on site.
In 1940 a pair of 4-inch QF guns were mounted at Padstow Battery. In 1942 these guns were replaced by two 130mm French naval guns, one on the top of the circular gun pit which was filled in. .