Laboratory Battery - Magazine, cartridge store showing the extend of the robbed stonework exposing the ventilation channels in the wall
Construction started on the Steep Holm defences in 1866 when six 7-in Rifled Muzzle Loading (RML) batteries were constructed; four double gun batteries and two single gun emplacements. The guns have been recorded as dating from between 1868 and 1869, indicating the fortifications took at least 2 years to complete. Each battery had an associated magazine for separate shell and cartridge storage and utilised a Georgian canon as the pivot. All 7-in RML guns remain on the island, as do all but one of the pivot guns.
These Victorian-era guns have been identified as 7-inch 7-ton Mark III Armstrong RML (Rodney Legg, Steep Holm at War, p50)
The island was rearmed in 1941 when two twin-gun 6-inch batteries were constructed. A proportion of the C19 fortifications were damaged during this later fortification as older emplacements were built on or the stone was robbed for use elsewhere on the island.
Laboratory Battery - Magazine, cartridge store showing the extend of the robbed stonework exposing the ventilation channels in the wall
Construction started on the Steep Holm defences in 1866 when six 7-in Rifled Muzzle Loading (RML) batteries were constructed; four double gun batteries and two single gun emplacements. The guns have been recorded as dating from between 1868 and 1869, indicating the fortifications took at least 2 years to complete. Each battery had an associated magazine for separate shell and cartridge storage and utilised a Georgian canon as the pivot. All 7-in RML guns remain on the island, as do all but one of the pivot guns.
These Victorian-era guns have been identified as 7-inch 7-ton Mark III Armstrong RML (Rodney Legg, Steep Holm at War, p50)
The island was rearmed in 1941 when two twin-gun 6-inch batteries were constructed. A proportion of the C19 fortifications were damaged during this later fortification as older emplacements were built on or the stone was robbed for use elsewhere on the island.