Paull Point Battery

PAULL POINT BATTERY

A gun battery dating from 1861–4, with a submarine mining observation post added in 1886 and substantial remodelling in 1894. Further modifications were made around 1940 to convert barrack ranges for ammunition storage. The battery occupies an irregular pentagonal plan with its longest south-west face running parallel to the shore for approximately 200 metres, flanked by two faces of about 100 metres each.

The defences consist of a ditch 4 metres deep containing a stone-coped Carnot wall with rampart and terreplein platform behind. The Carnot wall features loopholes beneath ashlar lintels, a large single-room caponier at the north-west corner, and a double caponier at the south-west corner. Both caponiers are single-storey structures with open basements, round-headed doors, loopholes and barrel-vaulted ceilings with stone spiral staircases and internal iron-railed balconies. The loopholed outer wall continues around the north-east side with demi-caponiers at each end, a northern entrance with double doors between square stone-coped piers, and a small central bastion with railings and double gates to the north.

The gun emplacements on the terreplein are arranged as three 6-inch breech-loading guns to the south, two 4.7-inch quick-firing guns to the north, and one centrepiece emplacement containing both a 6-inch disappearing-mounted gun and a flat-roofed electric light directing station. Each emplacement has subterranean barrel-vaulted magazines and store-rooms surmounted by concrete gun platforms with connecting steps. The larger 6-inch emplacements contain three or four lower chambers, pairs of original hand-operated internal shell hoists, external iron-railed balconies, and most retain heavy steel doors to ready-use ammunition lockers.

The battery is constructed primarily in red brick laid in English bond with York stone copings; flagstone and concrete roofs or earth coverings are used throughout. Gun emplacements and the observation post are of reinforced concrete. Wrought-iron railings and gates are present at key points.

Within the main enclosure are barrack ranges, originally constructed as single-storey flat-roofed buildings one room deep, with rubbed-brick cambered arches to the original doors and windows. These have since been subdivided internally. The southern range extends 32 bays; the northern section comprises a 16-bay officers' quarter north of the main entrance and a 22-bay section to the south, with an 11-bay recessed central barrack section, an 8-bay former hospital section and a 4-bay guard-house section. A former cookhouse, seven bays wide by one bay deep, adjoins the inner wall with similar arched openings now containing inserted doors beneath concrete lintels.

A rectangular artillery store stands behind the south-west rampart with chamfered plinth, segmental-arched door and flanking windows. Small rectangular flat-roofed stores adjoin each 4.7-inch gun emplacement. Two protective earthen mounds within the main enclosure contain an engine house and communications post respectively. The communications post features a sunken entrance with round-headed doors and relieving arches flanking central segmental-headed windows, and contains barrel-vaulted chambers with a vertical ladder-shaft rising to a flat-roofed concrete observation post on the mound's top. A small rectangular flat-roofed office adjoins the north-east side. The engine house is similar in construction but lacks the observation tower and includes later flat-roofed additions on its front and a partly-subterranean concrete bunker to the north-east.

Two isolated single-storey buildings stand within the main enclosure: a three-bay by two-bay structure approximately 30 metres south-east of the north gate with segmental-arched blind panels and hipped roof (formerly a woodstore); and a five-bay by two-bay former blacksmith's shop approximately 40 metres west of the north gate with inserted doors in original segmental-headed openings and a flat roof. A small square building approximately 20 metres south of the north gate is ruinous.

The site contains a rectangular subsidiary northern rampart enclosure, enclosed by spiked railings with double gates to the north-east.

Historical Development

A battery for twelve gunners was established at Paull in 1542 and remained in existence until the late 17th century. It was rebuilt in 1807 and dismantled following the French wars. The present battery was built on an enlarged site between 1861 and 1864 with 19 guns; a submarine mining base was added to the north side in 1886–7 and the whole was remodelled in 1894. The guns were dismantled in 1915, and the battery served as headquarters for Humber defences during the First World War. After the Second World War it was used as offices and stores before passing into private ownership. At the time of survey, some barrack buildings were in use as stores and stables, with the remainder unoccupied.

The battery is registered as a Scheduled Ancient Monument (county number 231).