No. 2 Battery

No. 2 Battery

A former gun battery of approximately 1860, built as part of the Stokes Bay defences.

The battery is constructed with a reinforced concrete core, brickwork to the built elevations, and stone detailing to the embrasures. Gun emplacements contain iron fittings, and the interior features iron and timber fixtures and fittings.

The battery is C-shaped in plan and is now predominantly orientated to the south-east. The former parade ground lies behind the ramparts to the north, and the River Alver forms a boundary to the west.

The principal east-facing brick rampart is symmetrical and consists of three bays over a single storey, constructed in English bond. The outlying bays contain low, large round-headed embrasures with sturdy granite chamfered square architraves to the side and above. The embrasures have deep-set multi-paned timber casement windows set behind metal railings. Above each embrasure is a broad rounded soldier brick arch of six courses with a central circular vent. The central bay is similar but its embrasure has been removed and replaced with a recessed door inserted into brick infill. Either side of the entrance there are large round-headed shaped sections of render. The rampart top has a short parapet formed from a single course of rounded brick, with a grass-covered roof and a central concrete open observation post accessible from the north.

The southern rampart is hidden behind a grass bank. Towards the top are the remains of two concrete circular gun emplacements. The front face shows three visible courses of concrete blocks, the uppermost chamfered into a parapet. This face also houses the shell storage area and an aperture for the cartridge lifting belt. To the rear is a lower concrete plinth with a chamfered outer edge. Inside the bowl of the emplacements is a circle of locating bolts. At the top of the bank is a centralised range-finding position comprising a waist-height concrete wall with chamfered top, a brick-built standing platform, and the remains of a pedestrian ramp leading down to the rear.

The western rampart is covered with undergrowth on its western face. On the eastern side are ten bays of tall single-storey brick casemates and stores, constructed in English bond as round-headed arches of six soldier courses. Some have later timber doors; some are open. The northern elevation shows two visible storeys in three sections. The western and central sections are brick-faced with evidence of former window openings with brick segmental arches. The central section has a rectangular opening at first-floor level with a stone cill. The eastern section is rendered and blind, with remnants of a metal crane or gantry towards the top. The elevation top is a mixture of concrete and patchwork render with a protective metal rail running its width.

Internally, the eastern rampart has a brick lining including a brick vaulted ceiling over each casemate and store. To the north is a small heavy-duty metal door set into later infill brickwork providing access to a small room. The two remaining east-facing casemates have timber internal shutters with wrought iron hinges, with narrow vertical timber boards either side. The shell storage recesses have a plain timber architrave with segmental timber arch and signage. To the south are brick-lined ammunition store rooms with baffled passageways, decorated ventilation apertures, oil lamp recesses, and evidence of former hoist machinery positions. This area also contains fittings associated with its later use as a nuclear bunker, including a brick waste point, air filtration system, and heavy-duty metal doors.

The west-facing rampart comprises five casemates separated by five ammunition stores, lined in brick with cambered vaulting to the casemates and semi-circular vaulting to the stores. The embrasures are framed in granite, and some retain bucket irons, wall rings, and door frames. In the most southerly casemate, the filtration system pipework runs along the ceiling and exits to the west.