Beacon Hill Battery (also known as Beacon Hill Fort) is a late-19th and 20th century coastal fortification that was built to defend the port of

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. It is a scheduled

ancient monument An ancient monument can refer to any early or historical manmade structure or architecture. Certain ancient monuments are of cultural importance for nations and become symbols of international recognition, including the Baalbek, ruins of Baalbek ...

Prior military use of the site

Beacon Hill is a

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the s ...

on the Harwich peninsula, about one kilometre south of the town. It overlooks the estuaries of the Stour and

Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

rivers on the approach to the harbour, which has been an important civil and naval port since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

Tudor blockhouse: House-upon-the-Hill

The first fortification built on the site was one of three

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

s, constructed at Harwich during the reign of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

, following his visit to the town in 1543. These were

Device Forts The Device Forts, also known as Henrician castles and blockhouses, were a series of artillery fortifications built to defend the coast of England and Wales by Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII. Traditionally, the Crown had left coastal defences ...

, built at Tower House, Middle House and the House-upon-the-Hill. They were abandoned within ten years, only to be briefly revived in 1588, owing to the threat posed by the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (often known as Invincible Armada, or the Enterprise of England, ) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by Alonso de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aristocrat without previous naval ...

. By 1625 the site had again fallen into disrepair and Harwich was considered to be defenceless. The site of the actual blockhouse was destroyed by erosion.

Napoleonic Wars

A nearby site was chosen for Harwich Barracks. These were built in 1803. The original occupants were the West Essex Regiment and the Royal Buckinghamshire Militia. On the promontory itself, an earthen artillery battery of five 24-pounder guns was constructed in 1812, intended to supplement the larger Harwich Redoubt, which had been completed to the north in 1810 and was armed with ten 24-pounders. By 1822, the battery had been lost to erosion, and a replacement planned in 1839 was not built.

Beacon Hill Battery

In 1887, renewed fear of a French invasion prompted the

Secretary of State for War The secretary of state for war, commonly called the war secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The secretary of state for war headed the War Offic ...

, Edward Stanhope, to chair a committee on the "Fortifications and Armaments of Military and Mercantile Ports". One of the results of the committee's report was the ordering of a new artillery battery at Beacon Hill in September 1888; work had been completed by May 1892. The battery was built to an innovative design; an artificial mound in the centre of the promontory served to conceal the underground magazines, shelters and ancillary buildings, while creating a natural-looking profile against which, the lighter weapons at the foot of the mound would be difficult to see. The rear of the work was protected by a defensive perimeter built to a new design called the Twydall Profile, consisting of an earthen rampart, fronted by a

glacis A glacis (, ) in military engineering is an artificial slope as part of a medieval castle or in early modern fortresses. They may be constructed of earth as a temporary structure or of stone in more permanent structure. More generally, a glaci ...

sloping down to a shallow ditch that concealed a steel

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

fence. The battery was powerfully armed with a single BL 10-inch gun and a single BL 6-inch gun on a hydro-pneumatic disappearing mountings, together with two QF 4.7-inch guns. In 1894, a former practice battery sited near the tip of the headland and dating from 1871 was rebuilt to mount four RML 64-pounder guns on traversing carriages for close defence. Two

QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss The QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss or in French use Canon Hotchkiss à tir rapide de 47 mm were a family of long-lived light naval guns introduced in 1886 to defend against new, small and fast vessels such as torpedo boats and later submarines. T ...

guns were added in 1898. By the turn of the 20th century, concern had shifted from France to Germany, and the battery's armament was the subject of several upgrades. In 1898, a depression range finder and telephone system were installed. In 1901, a further BL 6-inch gun was added to the north of the battery. In 1903, the original guns were replaced with three of the latest BL 6-inch Mk VII guns, but retaining the two old 4.7-inch guns. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Harwich was an important destroyer base; improvements to the battery included two

QF 1-pounder pom-pom The QF 1 pounder, universally known as the pom-pom due to the sound of its discharge, was a 37 mm British autocannon, the first of its type in the world. It was used by several countries initially as an infantry gun and later as a light an ...

anti-aircraft guns. Beacon Hill Battery Harwich XDO Post 2020

The fort remained operational in the

inter-war period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

, although the 4.7-inch guns were finally retired. Plans to modernise the battery had not been started before the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1940, a new emplacement, known as "

Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805) was a British Army officer, Whig politician and colonial administrator. In the United States and United Kingdom, he is best known as one of the leading Britis ...

Battery" was constructed for two rapid-firing QF 6-pounder 10 cwt guns on a twin-barrelled mounting, intended to counter fast attack craft, which also included a new magazine, shelters and a prominent three-storey battery observation post (BOP). The 6-inch guns were partially enclosed by concrete

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" ...

s to protect the crews from air attack. In April 1941, a hexagonal tower was built 100 yards north of Beacon Hill. This housed a Type 287 Radio Direction Finding (RDF) array, used to monitor the observation mine field installed across the harbour entrance. It remained in use until December 1943. The tower still retains its original array with replacement 'pig trough' reflectors. Ground defences were improved by the addition of pillboxes, trenches and searchlight emplacements. Overlooking the breakwater, a concrete blockhouse housed an Extended Defence Officer (EXDO) post, from where naval officers could electrically detonate

sea mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...

s in the estuary.

Decommissioning and subsequent restoration

The fort was finally decommissioned in 1956 on the dissolution of coast artillery in the United Kingdom. In early 2018, part of Beacon Hill Battery was bought by Paul Valentine and Barry Sharp as part of a restoration project.

References

{{reflist * National Archive files WO 166/1718---515 Coast Defence War Diary; WO 166 series Eastern Command, 11 Corps, 15 Division, Essex Division, 45 Division, 223 Brigade, War Diaries; ADM 199/823—Minelaying/Minefields). * National Archives WO 30/67 and 100—Defences of Eastern District, maps of proposed Martello Tower sites in MMH1 series; sketches of Harwich by Captain Durant at Hampshire Cultural Trust Peter Kent's "Fortifications of East Anglia".

External links

Victorian Forts and Artillery datasheet

Subterranea Britannica description

Photos
photos Device Forts Forts in Essex Palmerston Forts Napoleonic beacons in England Harwich Artillery battery fortifications in the United Kingdom 1534 establishments in England