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No. 5 Battery, Stokes Bay Lines is a mid-nineteenth-century coastal defence work constructed as part of the extensive fortification programme undertaken by the British government in response to perceived threats from France during the 1860s. Located at Stokes Bay near Gosport in Hampshire, the battery forms part of the wider defensive complex known as the Stokes Bay Lines, which comprised multiple gun emplacements and supporting structures. The work displays the characteristic design features of mid-Victorian coastal artillery fortifications, incorporating casemented positions for the mounting and protection of heavy ordnance. As one element within a strategically important defensive system guarding the approaches to Portsmouth Harbour, the battery represents the military engineering response to evolving naval technology and international tensions of the mid-nineteenth century.
No. 5 Battery, Stokes Bay Lines is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1001829. View the official record →
No. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1001829.
No. 5 Battery, Stokes Bay Lines 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 1001829.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Gilkicker fort (0.6 km), Fort Monckton (0.6 km), Spitbank Fort (3.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of No. 5 Battery, Stokes Bay Lines'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.
No. 5 Battery, Stokes Bay Lines stands on Bracklesham Group And Barton Group (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Eocene. The rock here is sand, silt and clay.