Palmerston Fort - Whitsand Bay Battery

When the Stanhope Committee reviewed the country's defences in 1887, it was realised that naval artillery had improved so much that it would have been possible for enemy warships to anchor in the Bay and bombard Plymouth without being threatened by the existing forts[8]. To counter this threat, a battery of three 12.5 inch rifled muzzle-loaders and two 6 inch breech-loaders was constructed near Stone Farm at the top of Tregonhawke Cliff. The battery was strongly fortified against land attack with a dry moat protected by three caponiers. It was completed in 1893, but was fully disarmed after World War I. It was released by the military in 1951 and became a caravan park. Although the ditch has been filled-in, many of the original features can still be seen.