18th century battery associated with Martello Tower K, Walton-on-the-Naze (EHER 81594)

The standing and buried remains of a forward battery associated with Martello Tower K. The battery was built in 1795, during the early stages of the French war, and is one of only two surviving examples of the Essex coast. It is a Scheduled Monument.

Information from NRHE: The standing and buried remains of a forward battery associated with Martello Tower K. The battery was built in 1795, during the early stages of the French war, and is one of only two surviving examples of the Essex coast; the other lies near Tower A at Stone Point, St Osyth. The remains of the Walton Mere battery stand some 80 metres to the north east of the tower on the Town Hard. The battery is of the barbette-type: originally a 'V'-shaped brick wall pointing towards the Mere, terraced to the rear and equipped with low embrasures to allow three 24-pound cannons to fire from traversing platforms. The northern arm of the wall, some 25 metres in length and 2.5 metres high, survives well, retaining the upper courses of dressed stone, the inner rifle step and evidence of two gun embrasures. The southern wall, however, was demolished to ground level in the 1960s, leaving only a broad band of foundation courses visible in the present yard surface. During World War I the battery was roofed over and was used as a training centre for the army. In the early years of the Second World War however, this roof was lost to a storm and the battery was used to store mobile coastal defence guns brought up from the marshes at night. It was Scheduled in 2000. <1>