The original battery on this site was built between 1861 and 1862 to mount nine guns in what was the old Western King Redoubt. It was armed with 64-pdr guns.
Western Kings 12-pdr Quick Fire Battery was built between May 1898 and September 1898. The cost of the QF Battery was £4,000. This was a battery of seven 12-pdr Quick Fire guns and at least two Maxim Machine guns on the western side. On the east side of the battery was an old position for four 64-pdr RML guns. This old part of the 64-pdr battery is now a car park. The remaining five 64-pdr guns of the original battery were built over with the new 12-pdr QF Battery.
On the right hand (west) side of the 12-pdr gun emplacements there are the remains of two mounts for Maxim Machine Guns.
This battery was adjacent to the Devil’s Point Battery with two 12-pdr QF guns.
National Archives WO 78/5046