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

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.