Opposite the city stands Mount Batten Tower. To the south, on the high ground, are
Staddon and Stamford Forts, supported by Staddon Point, Staddon Heights, Bovisand, Lentney, Renney, Lord Howards, Watch House, Frobisher and Brownhill batteries. These formed the eastern Plymouth Defences.
Photos Charles Taylor
Staddon Heights Batteries
1782
Abandoned in 1847
Staddon Point Battery & Bovisand Battery
1847
Built close to the water, it was strengthened in 1869
by the construction of Bovisand Battery with its armoured granite
casemates and 21 guns beneath it on the shore. By the 1890s it had
four Quick Firing guns as armament. Still in use in World War 2. Has
been used as a diving school, but this has closed down again (2003).
Watch House Battery
c1870
Equipped with one 12.5" RML, with two 6" Breech
Loading guns added in 1895. Still in use in World War 2.
Frobisher Battery
c1870
Armed with one 12.5" RML in the 1890's.
Brownhill Battery
c1870
Staddon Fort
1862-69
9 sided, surrounded by a deep dry ditch, and equipped
with 21 guns. This was the central defence of Staddon Heights and
was connected to the other gun batteries by roads or dry ditches.
Part of the fort is still used by the Navy.
Lord Howards Battery
c1900
Armed with two 6" Breech Loading guns.
Stamford Fort
1869
A five sided fort, now a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Private.
Lentney Battery
c1900
Armed with two 6" Breech Loading guns until 1910.
Still in use in World War 2. Well preserved easy to view.
Renney Battery
c1900
Equipped with three 9.2" Breech Loading guns. Still
in use in World War 2.
