History of the New Battery
The New Battery was completed in 1895 after problems with subsidence and concerns the concussion from larger guns would
cause the cliffs to collapse at the Old Battery. The building cost was £9,821 and was armed with three 9.2" breech loading guns,
weapons that cost £12,750, weighed 28 tons each, and fired shells weighing 380lbs, each gun needed a crew of eleven men. The
battery has a commanding position overlooking the Old Battery and is almost 120 metres above sea level. Click here
for a plan view of the battery.
Administrative buildings were sited behind the battery and underground magazines were dug out between the gun emplacements. In
1900-02 a battery Command Post was built on the down above the battery. A cookhouse and shelter for twenty-three men was built
behind the southern gun emplacement. Later a Port War Signal station was added east of the battery, together with coastguard
cottages.
The battery was placed in care and maintenance in 1918 but reactivated again at the commencement of the Second World War. In
1945 the battery was moth-balled again and finally the guns were disposed of in 1954. Between 1956-71 the site was used by
Saunders Roe for testing Black Knight and Black Arrow rocket engines prior to shipment to Woomera for launching.
In 1975 the National Trust acquired the site along with the surrounding downland. The coastguard cottages are let by the
National Trust to visitors and in 2004 the first stage of opening the underground rooms to visitors took place.
