Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The battery was originally armed with ten, later seventeen, 24-pounders during its existence, and was built in 1793. It was ordered to be dismantled in 1817, but in 1854, it was planned to put twelve 24-pounders on traversing platforms. By 1870, it was described as an incomplete earthwork, with incomplete revetments of a bastioned trace. Earthworks or probable gun emplacements are visible on the aerial photographs taken in 1941. A modern housing development now occupies the site and only the parapet wall remains

Monument Types

• COASTAL BATTERY (Post Medieval - 1793 AD to 1814 AD)
• SEA DEFENCES (SEA DEFENCES, Post Medieval - 1793 AD to 1814 AD)
• WALL (WALL, Post Medieval - 1793 AD to 1814 AD)

Full description

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Royal Military Canal, Shorncliffe Battery Wall. Scheduled as an ancient monument. 2 land parcels: other NGR is TR 18843496. (1) The defences of this period that do survive are four Martello towers on the edge of the cliff, three south of Martello Road and a fourth NW of the Girls' Technical School in Coolinge Lane. Additional references, not consulted. (a)(b) (2)

Additional reference (3-4)

Description and summary.
The battery was originally armed with ten, later seventeen, 24-pounders during its existence, and was built in 1793. It was ordered to be dismantled in 1817, but in 1854, it was planned to put twelve 24-pounders on traversing platforms. By 1870, it was described as an incomplete earthwork, with incomplete revetments of a bastioned trace. Only the parapet wall remains. (5)

The Shorncliffe battery wall referred to above (Source 1) is visible on aerial photographs viewed as part of South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey NMP. The wall is marked on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey Map (1870) but the Battery is marked in ruins. The Ordnance survey First Series (1816) also shows the location of the battery with the barrack buildings to the north on the hill and the v-shaped battery wall. The 2nd and 3rd edition OS maps (1898 and 1907) also indicate the earthworks of the probable gun emplacements at TR 1907 3495 and at TR 1926 3498. The possible gun emplacements are also visible as earthworks on the aerial photographs taken in 1941 but these appear to have been truncated or destroyed by Second World War trenches constructed before June 1942. A modern housing development now occupies the site. (3)

Photographs (6)

<1> English Heritage Schedule entry Ref: MPP 22/AA53431/1. (OS Card Reference). SKE41642.

<2> Pevsner N,Newman J(1983)The Buildings of England:North East and East Kent. 445 (OS Card Reference). SKE48516.

<3> Goodwin J E(1988)Fortifications against the French Invasion of the East Kent Coast of England, 1750- (OS Card Reference). SKE43623.

<4> Harris E C(1980)Archaeological investigations at Sandgate Castle, Kent. 1976-9. Post. Med. Archaeol. (OS Card Reference). SKE43693.

<5> A. D. Saunders Victor Smith, 2001, Kent's Defence Heritage (Collection). SKE53644.

<6> [SANDGATE CASTLE] (Collection). SKE6549.

Sources and further reading

Related records