Battery 2 - Stokes Bay - Subterranean Munitions Areas - Gosport - May 2014

An organised visit by permission of the Diving Museum who currently reside in the old munitions storage areas below the remains of the gun turrets. The areas shown in the pictures below and access to the turrets are not available to the public so thanks to Sub-Brit for organising the visit.

A full history can be found here but in brief several of these batteries where built along the coast to protect from French invasion during the mid 18th century. This battery is about the only one to survive in reasonable condition and lastly saw service as a Nuclear Defence bunker during the 1980's. It is now grade two listed.

OUTSIDE

General view of the remaining gun emplacements.

Gun emplacement.

INSIDE

A room used for general storage that contains the entrance to the munition bunkers.

A set of stairs leads down the bunker between the gun emplacements.

Which drops into this corridor with a door leading off...

...into this room. Not sure what the low, partly filled in door frames are about. This area must have once been accessible to the public given the amount of early 80's graff about

Elegant detail on the vent grills.

Then it's back up a short flight of stairs to the area's at the back of the battery.

Along the stairs where these small, filled in mystery "windows".

The "back area" of the battery.

And then this small room tucked in just behind.

The last room in this area contains the old air purifying equipment, perhaps left over from it's days a nuclear bunker.

Note the instructions in French...?