© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic England (NHLE)
Two Palmerstonian gun batteries are nineteenth-century coastal defence fortifications located on Steep Holm island in the Bristol Channel, Somerset. Built in the 1860s during the period of heightened military concern about French naval threat, these batteries form part of the broader system of Victorian fortifications constructed to protect the Bristol Channel approaches. The batteries consisted of artillery positions designed to mount defensive guns, reflecting the engineering principles and strategic doctrines of the Palmerston era. The fortifications remain as physical evidence of mid-nineteenth-century coastal defence planning, though their condition has been affected by their exposed island location and the passage of time.
Two Palmerstonian gun batteries on Steep Holm is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1005415. View the official record →
Two Palmerstonian gun batteries are nineteenth-century coastal defence fortifications located on Steep Holm island in the Bristol Channel, Somerset. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1005415.
Two Palmerstonian gun batteries on Steep Holm 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 1005415.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Flat Holm Coastal and Anti-aircraft Defences (4.1 km), Three Palmerstonian Gun Batteries, Flat Holm (4.1 km), Flat Holm Victorian Rain Water Catchment (4.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Two Palmerstonian gun batteries on Steep Holm'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.
Two Palmerstonian gun batteries on Steep Holm stands on Early Jurassic claystone, bedrock that formed in the Early Jurassic. The rock here is claystone.