Fletcher Battery

Fletcher Battery

A First World War coastal gun battery built in 1917 and extended during the Second World War, constructed in shuttered concrete with iron fittings.

First World War Battery

The battery comprises two gun emplacements set into a north-facing concrete revetment. Each emplacement survives as a semi-circular concrete structure retaining its shell-shelf, storage lockers, and vestigial fixtures including fixings for the barbette platform and hold-fasts (metal bolts and plates for securing gun mountings). Between the two emplacements is a section of lower concrete walling with brick steps leading up to the former gunnery officer position. On top of the revetment to the east are the remains of a mount for a Bar & Stroud rangefinder. Access to a brick-lined underground tunnel connecting the site has been blocked. The southern face of the revetment is covered with late 20th-century timber fencing and wire fencing above.

To the west and east of the battery stand two sets of machine gun pillboxes, each comprising three circular shuttered concrete structures. The western set is mostly covered by an earth bank, while the eastern set has a late 20th-century single-storey concrete store inserted into its southern face. All embrasures have been filled to prevent access.

Supporting structures include a west store room at the end of the battery, two east store rooms set into the revetment constructed from large concrete blocks with flat concrete roofs and replacement late 20th-century PVC doors and windows. Behind the battery are the remains of a temporary ammunition store, its northern face forming an earth bank and southern face a rendered 2-metre high wall with all openings blocked. Between the gun emplacements and ammunition store stands a small single-storey power supply building, square in plan with a single north-facing access door protected by a semi-circular blast wall and a gently sloping concrete roof.

Second World War Additions

At the eastern end of the revetment is a concrete two-storey former observation building, rectangular in plan with a projecting hexagonal section to the eastern end and a gently sloping concrete roof. The principal south elevation has access at first-floor level via a steel external stair and centrally at ground-floor level in the hexagonal section. A stone plaque commemorates Sir Richard Fletcher. The northern elevation is predominantly blank but has a continuous narrow horizontal strip of replacement UPVC windows below the roof line. All fenestration and doors are late 20th-century UPVC replacements. A concrete-topped brick corridor connects the observation building to the eastern machine gun pillbox group and the Second World War gun emplacement.

At the eastern extremity stands a concrete gun emplacement facing north with a blast wall to the south. It retains ammunition storage lockers at ground level and guide rails set into the road surface for blast doors (now removed). Internal features include barbette wall fixings, hold-fasts, shell-shelf and storage lockers. A late 20th-century wall and timber flat roof have been added to the rear, creating a covered store. Straight concrete stairs lead from the emplacement to the top of the revetment.

Adjacent to the south-east is a single-storey rectangular ancillary operations building constructed of concrete block-work. The east, north and south elevations are blank. The west elevation is broadly symmetrical with two access doors in steel-reinforced frames, the southern door having an open-sided concrete porch. Rectangular high-set windows with reinforced frames and paired steel shutters are present; all fenestration and doors are UPVC replacements.

South of the gun emplacement is a dedicated ammunition store, broadly triangular in plan approximately 20 metres wide on each face. It is dome-shaped with the apex approximately 3 metres above ground level, constructed of shuttered concrete. Free-standing concrete access shafts to the north and west feature double steel doors above a chamfered concrete band and flat concrete roofs.

To the far west of the site is a cylindrical concrete mortar mounting approximately 1 metre in diameter and 1.5 metres tall, topped with a steel spigot for connection to a 29-millimetre mortar.