Kingswear Torpedo Battery

This is a torpedo battery built in 1940, as indicated by an inscription on a wall. Constructed as part of a wider defensive system during the Second World War to protect shipping in Dartmouth Harbour, it sits on a large concrete platform that incorporates the remains of an earlier swimming pool. The battery is a low, sub-rectangular brick structure camouflaged with an external facing of broken concrete slabs set in concrete, designed to resemble random rubble and thatch. The pitched roof is reinforced concrete, similarly covered with haphazardly placed concrete slabs to further disguise it as a thatched boathouse.

The seaward end features a single substantial opening with a stepped upper lintel, intended for camouflage and used for launching the torpedoes. The landward end has two uneven openings for transporting the torpedoes into the battery; the larger southern opening is a segmental flat arch, while the smaller northern one is a segmental pointed arch. The wall on this end is plain concrete.

Inside, a raised concrete plinth in the western part of the building contains three elongated hollows fitted with ironwork, aligned along the building's axis, which would have supported the torpedo firing mechanisms. A winch was later installed on this plinth after the battery ceased operation. A davit base near the building, on the edge of the quay, is also considered an integral part of the complex. The battery originally housed 21-inch torpedoes. The battery survives exceptionally well and is a unique example of wartime defensive construction, demonstrating an innovative use of concrete for camouflage. It plays an important role in the Dartmouth defences and is a prominent landmark on the historic coastline.