Shoulder Mutton Battery - Dover - 2012
To say this place is overgrown would be an understatement, really should have paid a visit in the winter, if not just for the photography, everything is so green and dappled it really is hard to make things out on the photos.
Unfortunately the tunnels and doorways are all bricked up, but I managed to get my camera through a few holes to see the tantalising glimpses of whats inside.
The battery is mentioned in a report of February 1851, with 5 x 32pdrs but was completely reconstructed 1871-74 for RMLs. In 1870 the Defence Committee recommended that two 9-inch RMLs be mounted at Shoulder of Mutton Battery and in 1872 the Committee agreed that three 7-inch 7-ton RMLs should be mounted as well. In 1886 the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers Works Committee recommended that the two 9-inch RMLs should be adapted for high-angle fire, and a table of armaments in 1887 showed high-angle mountings approved. An 1892 table of armaments shows the two 9-inch RMLs as being “For long range” but in 1893 the long-range mountings were still awaited and a note reads “No provision yet made for works.” The Works Committee reported in 1893 that a new cartridge store was under construction. By this time the battery was, at best, obsolescent and all the Dover RML batteries were rendered obsolete and unnecessary by the BL batteries built at the Citadel and Langdon Cliffs at the turn of the century. By 1903 the five guns at Shoulder of Mutton Battery had been replaced by two Quick Fire guns for defence of the inner harbour.
http://www.victorianforts.co.uk/pdf/...erofmutton.pdf
Unfortunately the tunnels and doorways are all bricked up, but I managed to get my camera through a few holes to see the tantalising glimpses of whats inside.
The battery is mentioned in a report of February 1851, with 5 x 32pdrs but was completely reconstructed 1871-74 for RMLs. In 1870 the Defence Committee recommended that two 9-inch RMLs be mounted at Shoulder of Mutton Battery and in 1872 the Committee agreed that three 7-inch 7-ton RMLs should be mounted as well. In 1886 the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers Works Committee recommended that the two 9-inch RMLs should be adapted for high-angle fire, and a table of armaments in 1887 showed high-angle mountings approved. An 1892 table of armaments shows the two 9-inch RMLs as being “For long range” but in 1893 the long-range mountings were still awaited and a note reads “No provision yet made for works.” The Works Committee reported in 1893 that a new cartridge store was under construction. By this time the battery was, at best, obsolescent and all the Dover RML batteries were rendered obsolete and unnecessary by the BL batteries built at the Citadel and Langdon Cliffs at the turn of the century. By 1903 the five guns at Shoulder of Mutton Battery had been replaced by two Quick Fire guns for defence of the inner harbour.
http://www.victorianforts.co.uk/pdf/...erofmutton.pdf