19th century Wing Battery, Coalhouse Fort (EHER 1758)

Wing Battery, a coastal artillery battery built on the flanks of Coalhouse Fort (TQ 67 NE 19, HOB UID 413479). It was constructed in 1893 for two 6-pounder quick-firing (QF) guns, the battery was immediately adapted to take four guns, each pair of emplacements having ready-use lockers and a shared magazine. The emplacements were located in an oval earthwork trace surrounded by a small water-filled ditch, the whole being immediately behind the sea wall. The rapid rate of fire of the guns meant that the battery provided defence against motor torpedo boats in the River Thames as well as providing minefield defence. The guns were removed in 1902 and two Defence Electric Lights (searchlights) were erected on top of the battery to serve a QF battery on the roof of Coalhouse Fort. The battery is one of a number of defensive structures in the area that are scheduled with Coalhouse Fort.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import. An 1895 return shows that two 6-pounder quick-firing guns had been installed in an open battery on the river bank, upstream of the main work. <1> "As a defence against fast torpedo boats, and to prevent the activities of minesweepers, a small earthen emplacement for four 6-pounder quick firing guns was constructed just behind the river wall south of the main fort in 1893". <2> Wing Battery was built in 1893 on the southern flank of Coalhouse Fort, a Royal Commission fort, 2km south-east of the village of East Tilbury. Record plans show two emplacements, each with ready-use lockers and a magazine, set on top of an oval earthwork trace within a water-filled ditch, the whole set behind the sea wall. Soon after or during its construction each emplacement was doubled up. In 1902 the 6-pounder guns were removed and two Defence Electric Lights were constructed on top of one of the emplacements. These supported a new 12-pounder battery on top of Coalhouse Fort, but it seems likely that because of developments in artillery both the new battery and the lights fell out of use before the beginning of the First World War. <3> <4> States ''By 1905, a small earthen battery with two searchlights had also been built about 300 yards to the south of the fort". "This was later adapted to take three searchlights with generating equipment". <4> Wing Battery (Coalhouse Fort) was surveyed by English Heritage in October 2000. For full details and archive plans contact the National Monuments Record. <3> Additional sources. <5> - <7> August 2012: A low-level, oblique aerial photograph taken in August 1941 shows the battery apparently overgrown. <3> Photographs <8> - <12>