Culver Battery
The original proposal for a battery at Culver Cliff was in 1887 to prevent enemy ships from getting within firing range of the batteries at Yaverland and Redcliffe. However the plans were delayed and the battery wasn't completed until 1906.
The surviving positions remains originally held 9.2", Mark V breach loading guns. These had been replaced by 1924 by two Mark VI guns which had a range of almost one mile and could elevate to 30 degrees.
Shells were stored in underground magazines located between the two gun positions. Behind the guns, now (2021) covered by a mound, were extensive storage bunkers with an iron paling fence to the west.
The battery was used during peacetime for secret defence research. In 1927 it was involved with the Fortress Plotting system of range finding, and in 1934 trials took place with 6 inch guns with 45 degree mountings (for longer range).
The battery was abandoned in 1956 when all the guns were removed and the emplacements filled in.
Today (2021), the gun positions have been exposed and the roadway behind them form the egress from the National Trust car park at the eastern end of Culver Down.
Source: National Trust Information Board
