Lighthouse Battery - I could not resist being nosey! Look at that tempting view of the end of a cannon and an amazing vista with Steep Holm beyond. [001]

Steep Holm Island from the Lighthouse Battery location. I bet that panoramic view gave quite a lot of time for the Victorian soldiers to load the guns, brew up the tea and then welcome any uninvited visitors to our shores! [001]

Lighthouse Battery - consisted of three guns housed within two circular pits and a third, open-backed, circular pit. The cannon above is one of nine Mark III rifled muzzle loading guns (RML's) mounted upon disappearing Moncrieff carriages built at the Royal Gun Foundry, Woolwich having been designed by Sir William Armstrong. One gun on the island is dated 1859 on the trunnion.

The RML 7-inch caliber, 7 ton guns, consisted of a steel rifle tube surrounded by wrought iron coils and had an overall length of 142 inches. They used a 115 lb. Palliser shell and were mounted on the Moncrieff disappearing carriage. The shells exploded upon impact and their high velocity ensured that they could pierce iron-clad warships of the time. Typically, the shell could penetrate eight inches of iron-plate armour at a distance of 3,300 feet!

These guns were never fired in defence, only for test purposes. [001] [1318]

There were in fact four batteries on Flat Holm:

1. Castle Rock Battery : consisting of three guns in two Moncrieff pits and one open-backed pit.

2. Farm House Battery : two guns in one full Moncrieff pit and one open-backed pit.

3. Well Battery : one gun in an open-backed Moncrieff pit.

4. Lighthouse Battery : three guns in two full Moncrieff pits and one open-backed pit.