26/09/1998 Originally designed in the late nineteenth century as a battery of heavy long range guns intended to defend against battleships standing off and bombarding Plymouth RN Dockyard from long range. By 1936 the battery had been armed with 3 x 9. 2in guns, with 2 searchlights.
During WW2 all 3 guns were operational and manned by 164 Coast Battery Royal Artillery. The guns were removed in 1956 and most of the emplacements filled in, and buildings demolished by the 1970s. The site is now a Nature Reserve, but the remains of three W gun positions can still be seen.
Most of the other positions are buried, but probably intact beneath the surface. 05/2000 Coastal battery. In poor condition with gun emplacements filled in, outworks demolished, and no above ground structures visible. (information from 1992 aerial photographs).