New Needles Battery, Isle of Wight

This battery was built in the 1890s to replace the Old Needles Battery, further down the hillside. The emplacements were for three 9.2" Breech Loading guns, but it remained armed throughout the beginning of the 20th Century, until the end of WW2. It remains in good condition, and is under the care of the National Trust, although it is an open access site. The magazines contain a display of the battery's later use as the control rooms for a rocket testing site further down the hill.

The battery is open to the public, but sometimes closed in severe weather.

Plan, courtesy of the Palmerston Forts Society

One of the gun pits

Another view, magazine entrance is to the right

Range finder mounting with room under

Tunnel carrying a pipe at the rear of the battery

This gun pit now contains a coastguard tower

Far end of the battery

Looking into one of the unrestored magazines

Entrance to the restored magazines

Passage to magzines

Inside a magazines, with a model of the rocket and satellite

Walls of another magazine

Another room

Another un-renovated room