Angel Gate Battery, Harwich (EHER 18742)

Angel Gate Battery, Harwich, a Napoleonic gun battery and later used during the Second World War.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import. The Angel Gate Battery was probably similar to that at Bathside Bay, which was a Napoleonic gun battery of three gun platforms, built in 1811. The southern part of the battery has been destroyed by the erection of 'Navigation House', but buried deposits may survive to the north <1> Angel Gate Battery was one of six coastal batteries built by the Home Force's Eastern Command to defend the port at Harwich. Construction began in October 1940 and was completed by January 1941. It was equipped with two 12-pounder quick-firing guns for protection of the inner harbour and was manned by 283 Coast Battery of 515 Coast Regiment. The battery was reduced to care and maintenance in 1944. The site had historically been used for coastal defence, the previous battery having been disarmed in the 1870s and replaced by a store and observation post. Aerial photography from 1994 shows that a coastal artillery searchlight is all that remains at the site. <2> <3> <4> The partial remains of Angel Gate Battery survive. A coastal artillery searchlight is all that remains at the site.<5> <6>