The Needles Battery by Lucy Sugden Weaving Artist
The Needles Battery
The Needles Battery is a Victorian coastal defence and secret rocket testing site perched high above the Needles Rocks.
The Needles former battery is now owned by National Trust and operates as a museum.
The Needles Battery was built between 1861 and 1863 after the Royal Commission Review into the state of Britain’s defences after France’s first ironclad warship “La Gloire” was built.
The old Needles Battery was one of a series of land forts, batteries and sea forts designed to protect Portsmouth and Southampton.
The Needles former battery is now owned by National Trust and operates as a museum.
The Needles Battery is built of brick with cement dressings and is approached across a bridge with a cambered cement arch with keystone which is dated 1862. On the landward side of the battery, the walls are constructed of flint with brick lacing courses.
The battery has six, semi-circular gun emplacements, a Laboratory, Guard Rooms and shell and cartridge stores.
Interestingly, Britain’s first anti-aircraft gun was tested on the parade ground in 1913.
The Needles Battery is in Isle Of Wight AONB, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Created: 23 May 2022 Edited: 29 November 2023
The Needles Battery Information
The Needles Battery Address
West High Down, Alum Bay
PO39 0JH
Website: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/needles-old-battery-and-new-battery/
Get directionsLocal History around The Needles Battery
There are some historic monuments around including:
Bowl barrow on West High Down, 150m north of Roe's HallHurst Castle and lighthouseLong mortuary enclosure on Tennyson Down, 800m west of Freshwater Bay HouseTwo bowl barrows 110m north-east of HeatherdownBowl barrow on Headon HillGolden Hill Fort: buried remains and outer defencesLower Needles Point batteryRound barrow 100m west of Old CoastguardsNew Battery and High Down Test Site, The NeedlesTwo bowl barrows on High Down, 370m west of Tennyson's Beacon.
