St Anthony's Battery

St Anthony's Battery

The battery on St Anthony Head was constructed in 1885 and was armed throughout both World Wars and finally retired in 1952. During the Second World War, the guns were fitted with overhead covers to act as protection against strafing by enemy aircraft. These were removed when the National Trust bought the site in 1959, bringing it more closely to its original form. It is now possibly the best surviving early breech-loading artillery fortress in the United Kingdom.

Below the guns were storage magazines for the shells, and separate cartridges which contained the gunpowder propellant. These were stored in different locations and passed through separate lifts to the gun, only being combined at the last minute. The cartridge store required the use of special shoes and clothes, and a search before entering, to reduce the risk of a spark causing an explosion. The battery was protected against invasion by a ditch surrounding the seaward side with an unclimbed fence inside of this.

On walks

Get the iWalkCornwall app

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Download the app and use it to explore the walks and to purchase a guided route.
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The app will direct you to the start of the walk via satnav.
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The app guides you around the walk using GPS, removing any worries about getting lost.
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The walk route is described with detailed, regularly-updated, hand-written directions.
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Each time there is a new direction to follow, the app will beep to remind you, and will warn you if you go off-route.
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A map shows the route, where you are at all times and even which way you are facing.
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Each walk is packed with information about the history and nature along the route, from over a decade of research than spans more than 3,000 topics.
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Once a walk is downloaded, the app doesn't need a phone or wifi signal during the walk.
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The app counts down distance to the next direction and estimates time remaining based on your personal walking speed.
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We keep the directions continually updated for changes to the paths/landmarks - the price for a walk includes ongoing free updates.