Second World War Battery, Point Clear (EHER 2135)

Second World War Battery associated with nearby Martello tower, it now forms part of a garden wall.

Battery associated with nearby Martello tower, it now forms part of a garden wall. Only the NW and south sections remain, the magazine was demolished recently and one gun was removed around 1890, two recently and two remain, up-ended, in the garden. <1> The only Martello tower of the East coast series to have a gun battery. <2> All the Essex towers, except for Tower H (at Holland Marsh), were built to accompany forward batteries. The battery at Stone Point was built in conjunction with Tower A, and it is now one of only two surviving examples on the Essex coast, (the other lying near Tower K at Walton on the Naze). The remains of the Stone Point battery stand some 50m to the south west of the tower, in the gardens of Nos.31-33 Tower Estate. The battery is of the barbette-type: a massive 'V'-shaped brick wall pointing east towards the estuary mouth, terraced to the rear and originally equipped with five 24-pound cannons, set on traversing carriages behind lower sections of the parapet. The northern arm of the wall survives particularly well, as does the central section of the southern arm. The seaward point of the battery and the eastern end of the south wall have been overlain by later houses or reduced leaving only the lower courses and massive foundations in place. <3> Site Management 'What is left of the battery is also worth scheduling, namely a wall built of similar bricks (to the Martello tower) with wall-walk and parapet, and gun embrasures. The external eastern bank has gone, so have 3 cottages within'. <2><5> Additional references <7> <8> <9>