Lavernock Fort

The Palmerston government initiated a large system of coastal fortifications and Lavernock Battery was the most northerly of a chain of defences across the Bristol Channel, protecting the access to Bristol and Cardiff. Completed in 1870, the battery was initially armed with three rifled muzzle-loading (RML) 7 in Mk III guns on disappearing carriages. An 1895 inventory reported a fourth seven-inch gun. By 1903 all four guns had been replaced by two breech-loading six-inch (152 mm) Mk VII guns. The two 6-inch guns formed part of the Fixed Defences, Severn Scheme and protected the Atlantic shipping convoy de-grouping zone between Cardiff, Barry and Flat Holm. They were manned by men of the…

The battery was triangular shaped with four gun emplacements, a protective ditch, barracks, a laboratory, and a magazine. Most of the battery has been demolished and the ditch filled in; a swimming pool has been built over one of the magazines. What remains is included in a holiday caravan and chalet park.