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Berry Head Fort and battery is a Napoleonic-era coastal fortification located near Brixham in Devon. Constructed in the early nineteenth century as part of Britain's defences against French invasion during the Napoleonic Wars, the fort comprises a substantial masonry structure with associated gun batteries positioned to command the approaches to Torbay. The site includes Hardy's Head Battery, an adjacent defensive work named after Captain Thomas Masterman Hardy, and together these installations represent important examples of Regency-period military architecture designed to protect the Devon coast. The fortifications retain their period gun emplacements and defensive earthworks, which remain substantially intact as visible remains of Britain's southern coastal defence strategy during the Napoleonic conflict.
Berry Head Fort and battery and Hardy's Head Battery is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1017322. View the official record →
Berry Head Fort and battery is a Napoleonic-era coastal fortification located near Brixham in Devon. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1017322.
Berry Head Fort and battery and Hardy's Head Battery is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1017322.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including The Old Redoubt and later Victorian Rifle Range Target, 540m south west of Berry Head Fort (0.5 km), Ashhole Cavern (0.8 km), Windmill Hill Cave, Brixham (2.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Berry Head Fort and battery and Hardy's Head Battery's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Berry Head Fort and battery and Hardy's Head Battery stands on Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Devonian. The rock here is limestone, mudstone and calcareous mudstone.