Scheduled Monuments›England›Mount Batten: 17th century artillery tower, Civil War breastwork, and World War II remains

Mount Batten: 17th century artillery tower, Civil War breastwork, and World War II remains

England

List entry 1017599

Nation

England

The designation

Reference

List entry 1017599

Authority

Historic England (NHLE)

Status

Scheduled Monument

Scheduled area

1.26 hectares

Grid reference

SX 48587 53222

Boundary

Scheduled area

Overview

History & significance

Mount Batten is a scheduled ancient monument located on the Barbican peninsula in Plymouth, Devon, comprising defensive structures from multiple periods of English military history. The site features a seventeenth-century artillery tower built to defend Plymouth Sound and the surrounding waters, alongside Civil War period breastworks constructed during the English Civil War in the mid-seventeenth century. Second World War remains are also present on the site, reflecting its continued strategic importance during the defence of the South West during the German invasion threat. The monument preserves layers of fortification practice spanning over three centuries of coastal defence strategy.

Mount Batten: 17th century artillery tower, Civil War breastwork, and World War II remains is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1017599. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Mount Batten: 17th century artillery tower, Civil War breastwork, and World War II remains?

Mount Batten is a scheduled ancient monument located on the Barbican peninsula in Plymouth, Devon, comprising defensive structures from multiple periods of English military history.

Who is responsible for protecting Mount Batten: 17th century artillery tower, Civil War breastwork, and World War II remains?

Mount Batten: 17th century artillery tower, Civil War breastwork, and World War II remains 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 1017599.

What other scheduled monuments are near Mount Batten: 17th century artillery tower, Civil War breastwork, and World War II remains?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Staddon Heights Defences including Fort Staddon Fort, Brownhill Battery, Watch House Battery, Staddon Heights Battery, Staddon Battery and associated features and structures (2.3 km), Fort Bovisand (2.5 km), Breakwater fort (3.1 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Mount Batten: 17th century artillery tower, Civil War breastwork, and World War II remains

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Mount Batten: 17th century artillery tower, Civil War breastwork, and World War II remains's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview

An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.

Monuments

The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.

Battlefields

The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.

Roman Britain

The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.

Domesday

The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.

Civil War

The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.

Geology

The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.

LiDAR

Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.

Local Names

What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.

Historical Maps

Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.

Literature

The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.

Legal

The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.

Spotlight

A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.

Target Zones

For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.

Timeline

The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.

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Nearby

Other scheduled monuments within 10 km

Staddon Heights Defences including Fort Staddon Fort, Brownhill Battery, Watch House Battery, Staddon Heights Battery, Staddon Battery and associated features and structures

Holy well called St Julian's Well

4.1 km

World War II Heavy Anti-aircraft gunsite, 100m west of Princes Cottages

4.6 km

Battery with Royal Commission fortifications called Redoubt No.5 at Maker Heights

4.9 km

Battery and Royal Commission fortification called Grenville Battery

5.2 km

Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery at Maker Heights

5.3 km

The ground beneath

The bedrock under Mount Batten: 17th century artillery tower, Civil War breastwork, and World War II remains

Mount Batten: 17th century artillery tower, Civil War breastwork, and World War II remains stands on Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Devonian. The rock here is limestone, mudstone and calcareous mudstone.

Domesday entry for Sutton, Devon →

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