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Watch House Battery facts for kids

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Watch House Battery
Devon
England
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Site information
Open to
the public
No
Condition Complete; disarmed
Site history
Built 1864-1865; Rebuilt 1901-1904
Materials Earth
Concrete

Watch House Battery is a former 19th-century gun battery, built as one of a number of batteries to defend the Eastern approaches to Plymouth Sound, for the defence of the Royal Naval Dockyard at Devonport.

The battery was originally built as a small pentagonal redoubt with emplacements for five guns. By 1893 it was armed with two 64 Pounder Rifled Muzzle Loading Guns. In 1901 the battery was reconstructed for two 6-inch Mark VII breech loading guns with the work being completed in 1903. During the First World War the battery was manned by the Devonshire Royal Garrison Artillery.

After the Second World War the battery remained armed until the dissolution of coast artillery in the United Kingdom in 1956 when it was disarmed. It was released by the military and subsequently used as a children's activity centre for some years. It was Grade II listed in 1969.

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