More information : (TA 1697 2552) Coastal Artillery Battery.
An old dismantled fort or battery of the Civil Wars was close to the Humber at Paull. It was demolished "by the ships of war on the Humber" in 1642. (1)
The site was probably the same as that of the existing "Old Paull Battery" at TA 169 255, which is the obvious position in the area. No obvious remains of a Civil War fort are visible. The present battery is a large fort with brick walls and massive earthwork fortifications, possibly Napoleonic in origin (English Bond brick work); used in the 1939-1945 war. (2)
Rising ground SE of Paull village was an apt site for defensive works. In 1542 a battery for 12 gunners was built at Paull. Charles I was said to have inspected his forces at Paull in 1642 and a blockhouse garth was mentioned here in 1685. The battery was rebuilt on its present site in 1807 but dismantled at the end of the French Wars. It was again rebuilt on a much enlarged site in 1861-4 and armed with 19 guns. A submarine mining base, added in 1886-7, was later the site of a defensive searchlight. The battery was re-modelled in 1894 and used until World War II, when it became again a submarine mining depot and ammunition dump. It was disused in 1981. (3)
TA 170 255. Paull Point Battery, Paull. Pentagonal battery for 7 guns overlooking the Humber estuary and built in 1856 (sic) on the site of a Napoleonic Wars Battery. It was reconstructed in 1899 (sic) with three 6" Mark VII breech loading guns and two 4.7" Quick firers, added in 1905. The buildings are all of brick, the gun emplacements of reinforced concrete. Many original fittings, including shell-hoists, survive in working order. Substantial alterations in the landward buildings appear to date from 1914-18. Scheduled. (4)
TA 1697 2555 (centred). Paull Point Battery (disused) (NAT) (5)
The site was re-surveyed for the Fortess Studies Group, RCHME: Holderness Survey in April 1992. This survey found nothing over the above, except to express concern for the condition of the monument, and highlight the lack of a clear conservation strategy. Constituents of the main site are described separately (see parent-child). (6)
Scheduled. (7)
Heavy anti-aircraft battery documented. (8)
Paull Point Battery located at TA 169 256. Paull Point Battery was a 19th century coastal battery. By 1902 it was equipped with three 6 inch breech-loading Mk. VI guns and two quick-firing 4.7 inch guns. By the start of the First World War the two quick-firing 4.7 inch guns had been removed and the battery was disarmed in the early years of the war. During the Second World War the battery was used as an anti-aircraft ammunition depot. (9-10)
Paull Point Battery remains in near complete condition. Gun emplacements and revetments survive in good condition. Magazines are banked and covered. Ancillary buildings remain but some are roofless. First World War defence electric light is visible in poor condition at TA 1707 2518. A Second World War building is located at TA 1702 2576. (11)
Short notes on a field visit. (12) |