The Needles Batteries are two military

batteries Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

built above the Needles stacks to guard the West end of the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...

. The field of fire was from approximately West South West clockwise to Northeast and they were designed to defend against enemy ships.

Old Battery

The Old Battery was constructed between 1861 and 1863. It was equipped with six 7-inch Armstrong rifled breechloading guns. These were replaced by four 7-inch and two 9-inch rifled muzzle loaders in 1872, and six 9-inch rifled muzzle loaders in 1893. The 9 inch guns took a team of 9 men to load and fire. These guns fired projectiles weighing . The 9-inch guns remained in place until 1903 when they were discarded by throwing them over the side of the cliff. These were later recovered and two are now on display at the Old Battery.History of the Old Battery
/ref> A deep ditch with a retractable bridge was dug into the chalk to protect the facility from ground attack from the island side. In 1885 a tunnel was dug towards the cliff face from the parade grounds. An elevator down to the beach was completed in 1887. Early searchlight experiments were conducted at the site between 1889 and 1892. The present observation post housing a searchlight was built in 1899. Just to the east of the Old Battery, at Hatherwood Point are the remains of

Hatherwood Battery Hatherwood Battery (map reference ) is a battery located to the east of Alum Bay on the Isle of Wight. It is one of the many Palmerston Forts built on the island to protect it in response to a perceived French invasion. It was sited to cross fi ...

, built to defend the area alongside the Needles Battery. The Old Battery is a Grade II

Listed Building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

. A tunnel leads to a searchlight emplacement with good views towards the Needles lighthouse.

New Battery

There were subsidence problems and concerns that the concussion from firing the guns was causing the cliffs to crumble. This was solved by building the New Battery higher up the cliff, at a height of 120 metres above sea level. The New Battery was completed in 1895. Three 9.2-inch Mk IX breech-loading guns were installed at the New Battery: two in 1900 and a third in 1903. A crew of 11 was required to fire one of these guns. Each shell weighed .History of the New Battery
/ref> The New Battery guns remained in place until 1954, when they were scrapped. The Old and New Batteries were manned during the

World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

s. German

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

s sank two ships off The Needles during World War I.The Batteries at war
/ref> This facility was also the site of early trials of

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

s. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, anti-aircraft guns defended the Isle of Wight against air attacks but repeated German air attacks necessitated improvements in the fortifications at the site. Troops trained for the D-Day landing on the neighbouring cliffs. After the war, the Ministry of Defence deactivated the batteries. In the 1950s, the battery was used for testing the Blue Streak missile, as well as the

Black Knight The black knight is a literary stock character who masks his identity and that of his liege by not displaying heraldry. Black knights are usually portrayed as villainous figures who use this anonymity for misdeeds. They are often contrasted with t ...

and Black Arrow satellite launch vehicles. Like the Old Battery, the New Battery has also been listed at Grade II. The surviving parts of the rocket testing facilities are a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and ...

National Trust opening

When the site came into the possession of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, it was decided to restore the Old Battery so that it could be opened to the general public. The National Trust Youth Group comprising local schoolchildren and teachers assisted in preparing the site for its official opening in 1982. The site is still managed by the National Trust and is open daily from mid-March to the end of October. It gives visitors an insight into how a Victorian battery would work and giving a glimpse into the life of a soldier based at the Battery during the Second World War. Along with a series of exhibition rooms and the tunnel there are a number of visitor facilities including a tearoom. The New Battery was opened to the public in 2004 and has a display on the history of the British rocket development between the 1950s and 1970s.

Gallery

File:Original-guns-Old-Needles-Battery.jpg, Gun emplacement at the Old Needles Battery File:Searchlight-tunnel-old-needles-battery.jpg, The tunnel, leading to the searchlight. File:Searchlight-Old-Needles-Battery.jpg, Searchlight at the end of the Searchlight Tunnel, Old Needles Battery

References

Publications

* * Anthony Cantwell, "The Needles Battery", ''Fort'', 1985 ( Fortress Study Group), (13), pp69–89

External links

The Needles Battery
- official site
Victorian Forts data sheet on Old Needles BatteryVictorian Forts data sheet on New Needles Battery
WightCAM - photographically illustrated walks on the Isle of Wight website
Images of the Old Battery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Needles Batteries National Trust properties on the Isle of Wight Museums on the Isle of Wight Military and war museums in England Coastal fortifications Grade II listed buildings on the Isle of Wight Grade II listed forts Forts on the Isle of Wight Artillery batteries Cold War sites Palmerston Forts