Proof and Experimental Establishment, Shoebury Garrison, Old Ranges, Heavy Quick Firing Battery is a Grade II listed building in the Southend-on-Sea local planning authority area, England. First listed on 28 April 1986. Military battery.

Proof and Experimental Establishment, Shoebury Garrison, Old Ranges, Heavy Quick Firing Battery

WRENN ID
white-shingle-peregrine
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Southend-on-Sea
Constituency
Southend East and Rochford MP: Mr Bayo Alaba (Ind)
Country
England
Date first listed
28 April 1986
Type
Military battery
OS grid reference
TQ 936 842
Coordinates
51.52388, 0.7903
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Proof and Experimental Establishment at Shoebury Garrison, known as the Heavy Quick-Firing Battery, is a disused military structure built in 1898, with parts of an earlier battery incorporated and completed in 1900. The building features mass concrete outer walls made from a mix of 1:3 Portland cement, broken stone, and sand, with a core of brick burrs. It has four semi-circular bastions with projecting parapets, and the walls are neatly shuttered in horizontal courses. There are twin towers for the ammunition hoist and a single-storey structure attached to the rear. This early concrete building was used for training in firing methods from an elevated position, and the hoist towers were also utilized for fire-fighting training. Inside, the hoist room retains part of the curved ceiling from an earlier battery, which is possibly from around the 1850s.

Local climate

Proof and Experimental Establishment, Shoebury Garrison, Old Ranges, Heavy Quick Firing Battery receives an average of 830 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 54% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 81% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 7 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 95% of listed buildings. Of these, 4 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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