Old Battery House

Old Battery House

This is a detached house forming part of the Kings Lynn Coastguard Station, built in 1883 with minor 20th-century additions. It is constructed of red brick with tiled roofs.

The building is essentially square in plan, two storeys high, with projections to the north, south and east. The pitched roofs rise to a pyramid shape in the centre, with ridges running to gable ends above each projection. The original enclosed back yard has been covered over to form a continuous link with the adjoining outhouse to the east.

The west elevation overlooks the river and is composed of two bays. The northern bay projects forward slightly and carries a gable with a tripartite casement window. Beneath the window lintel is a bracket with a cord twisted around it, which would apparently have been lowered to the ground to operate a window knocker, presumably for emergencies at sea. Above this window is a moulded brick plaque displaying the Anchor motif of the Royal Navy. The ground floor features a flat-roofed canted bay with French windows flanked by narrow side windows. Below the cornice runs a band of egg and dart ornament in moulded brick. The south half of this elevation has a tripartite casement window to the ground floor with a moulded brick plaque containing the date 1883, framed by sunflowers. The west side of the projecting north wing has a first-floor window beneath the eaves and a ground-floor window which replaces the original main entrance. To its east is a gabled dormer with a small plaque displaying four sunflowers below a tripartite casement window. The south elevation displays a plaque at first-floor level showing the Anchor motif flanked by side panels with leaf decoration. Two first-floor windows are present, the western one now uPVC replacement, the eastern a narrow tripartite casement. Most windows have cambered arches. Modern dormer windows have been inserted into the north roof slope.

The east side of the outhouse has a window which appears to be a later insertion. To the north of the outhouse stands a modern garage.

Internally, the ground floor plan consists of a central corridor running north to south, with an entrance lobby (now a toilet) in the north wing. To the west of the corridor are two living rooms; to the east are the kitchen and scullery. The south front room retains its picture rail and an original marble fireplace in the north-west corner. The kitchen features a wide fireplace with bressumer. The plan has been slightly modified by relocating the kitchen door to its present position on the central corridor from the service room next to the scullery, and converting the service room into an entrance lobby by replacing its window with a door. Panelling on the east side of the corridor is modern, but the high internal window between kitchen and corridor is original. The doors to the two front rooms have four stopped-chamfered panels.

From the south end of the corridor, the stairs rise to the first floor. The upper section of the stair and the landing feature stick balusters and a stopped-chamfered newel post. The first-floor plan replicates the ground floor arrangement, with two back and two front rooms, though the partition wall between the two back rooms has been moved. The bathroom in the north wing contains a small window set at an angle in the corner, facing north-east. The interior of the outhouse does not retain original features.

Historically, until 1856 only a small number of customs officers were based at Kings Lynn. Plans for a new coastguard station were drawn up in 1875, and the facility opened in 1883. The station comprised a terrace of five cottages providing crew and family accommodation, with a detached officers' quarters and boathouse building (now 6 St Edmunds Terrace) immediately to the north. The Battery House stood as a detached building at the south end of the terrace and functioned as a residential training college for young men from the surrounding area, offering a route into a naval career with the Royal Navy. Its name suggests an association with artillery, possibly implying the presence of artillery personnel. Although no direct evidence exists for the storage of arms, this may have formed part of its function, and recruits would certainly have received training in the use of firearms.

By 1922, the Kings Lynn Coastguard Station contained only a detachment of four men. Following the establishment of HM Coastguard under the Coastguard Act of 1925, the station was closed and sold. In the late 20th or early 21st century, the yard between the house and outhouse was covered over.