Heugh Battery Museum

Heugh Battery Museum

Heugh Battery Museum
Moor Terrace
The Headland
Hartlepool
North Yorkshire
TS24 0PS

Tel: 01429 270 746
E-Mail: enquiries@heughbattery.com

Web: Heugh Battery Museum

About Heugh Battery Museum

Heugh Battery Museum encourages people to understand war and conflict and the impact it has both on those at the Front but also those who are left behind at home. The venue is divided across three levels with the underground magazines, the parade ground and main museum with the Observation Point tower providing panoramic views of the North Sea and surrounding coast line.


History Of The Heugh Battery


The Victorian Muzzle Loading Battery

During the 1850's a wave of panic hit Britain which culminated when France introduced the worlds first ironclad warship sparking fears of invasion. Hasty preparations were made and many ports were given gun batteries to give shelter to the naval and merchant fleets. Hartlepool got nine guns which were placed at the Heugh, by the Lighthouse and at Fairy Cove. Fairy Cove battery did not last long thanks to being on top of crumbling cliffs but the Heugh and Lighthouse Batteries, shored up by the promenade went on to serve for 96 years and were to hold the only British mainland guns to engage enemy warships during the World Wars.

Work began in 1859 when Heugh Battery was built for four large smooth bore guns while a smaller battery for another pair was built next door by the lighthouse. The 68pr guns which had an effective range out to a mile and a half were first manned by the Militia Artillery and later by a detachment of Volunteers raised in the town. During the 1880's the guns were upgraded to 64pr rifled guns but these soon became obsolete so in 1892 the Lighthouse was upgraded with a single 6 inch disappearing gun while the Heugh Battery was left empty.

The Breech Loading Battery

Even so disapearing guns soon fell out of favour and in 1900 it was decided to completely rebuild Heugh Battery for two of the latest 6 inch Mk VII guns. The old stone work was almost completely removed and new emplacements, underground magazines and a rangefinder post were built in concrete, most of which can still be seen today. Eventually in 1907 a similar gun was placed in the Lighthouse Battery and in 1908 the old Volunteers and Militia were disbanded and replaced by the Territorials who manned the guns right up to 1956.

The new guns with their complex fire control systems could fire out accurately to over seven and a half miles and although not powerful enough to sink an enemy warship outright they were a formidable deterrent to an enemy who may well be damaged and then have to face a difficult journey home at the mercy of the Royal Navy. In December 1914 the guns were given the chance to prove their mettle when three German Battlecruisers attacked the town.

The First World War and the Bombardment

Unable to face the British fleet in a full scale battle the German navy decided to carry out a raid that would draw a smaller number of British battleships into an ambush in the North Sea and on the morming of 16th December 1914 the towns of Hartlepool, Scarborough and Whitby were shelled. Only Hartlepool was defended, both by the batteries and naval vessels and a full scale engagement developed in which 101 civilians, 9 soldiers, 4 sailors and 9 German seamen were killed and much property damaged.

Both batteries fought back bravely but were hampered by misfiring guns and dud ammunition. Fortunately the Germans were using standard anti ship ammunition with time delay fuses which bounced off the gun aprons to explode behind the batteries otherwise casualties anong the