Heugh Gun Battery : In-depth Information

The site for the Heugh Battery was first leased in December 1859 and by 1864 four sixty-eight pounder guns were in place. In 1890 it was rebuilt for three guns, with the Lighthouse Battery being rebuilt the following year for a single six inch gun.

Between 1899 and 1900 Heugh was modified again, at a cost of just over £4000, to rake two quick firing guns. In December 1902 Heugh was armed with two six inch mark VII breach-loading guns, with a single mark VI gun at Lighthouse which was upgraded to mark VII by 1914.

It was with these three guns that three German ships were engaged on the morning of 16th December 1914. The battlecruisers “Seydlitz” and “Moltke” and the armoured cruiser “Blucher” shelled the batteries and other targets in Hartlepool from 8:15am for nearly forty minutes, killing over 100 civilians and injuring a further 400. Two shells exploded between the batteries, killing 7 soldiers but the German ships failed to disable the British guns.

Contemporary reports suggest that the ships fired shells with delayed action fuses which simply bounced off the concrete aprons of the batteries, exploding amongst the houses at the rear.

The gun at Lighthouse developed a fault and fired only 15 rounds whilst Heugh dispatched 108 rounds in response to the 500-1000 rounds fired by the ships. All three ships suffered minor damage, although this was sufficient to cut short the bombardment.

This was the first and last time that the batteries engaged the enemy but they continued to act as a deterrent throughout the First and Second World Wars. In September 1944 the Heugh Battery was taken out of service and reduced to care and maintenance. In August 1947 the two guns of the original Heugh Battery were selected for retention as part of the nation’s post-war layout of coastal defences.

The site was decommissioned at the end of 1956 when coastal artillery was finally abandoned as part of Britain’s defences.

Heugh Gun Battery

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In-depth Information