Dummy Battery

Dummy Battery
Grain, Kent, England
The remains of the battery
Dummy Battery
Coordinates	51°26′54″N 0°43′20″E / 51.448223°N 0.722319°E / 51.448223; 0.722319
Type	Fortification
Site information
Condition	Partly demolished
Site history
Built	1867–69
Built by	United Kingdom
In use	1895–1940s?
Materials	Earth, concrete
Demolished	1950s

Dummy Battery, originally known as Grain Battery, is a disused fortified gun battery located about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) south of the village of Grain, Kent at the confluence of the Rivers Thames and Medway. Completed in 1865, it supported two nearby coast artillery batteries at Grain Fort and Grain Wing Battery, a short distance to the north. The battery's arc of fire overlapped with Grain Tower just offshore and with Garrison Point Fort on the Isle of Sheppey across the other side of the Medway. It consisted of an earthwork with a concrete core supporting several gun emplacements with magazines below. It appears to have gone out of service as a battery by the time of the First World War, though it briefly took on a role in anti-aircraft defence. It was subsequently abandoned and was severely damaged by demolitions and the removal of its earthworks, leaving only the substantial remains of its concrete core standing today.

The battery was constructed shortly before Grain Fort, built in 1861–68, entered active service. Both fortifications were built following the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom which was established by Lord Palmerston in 1859, in response to a perceived threat from France. The site chosen for the battery was about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) south of Grain Fort. It was linked to the fort by a military road constructed on a causeway across marshland; the battery's purpose was to cooperate with the fort by supplementing its arc of fire, which crossed with that of Garrison Point Fort on the other side of the river. The battery originally took the form of a J-shaped earthwork in which a concrete core accommodated an unknown number of embrasures for the guns and a magazine under a rectangular mound at the rear, but underwent substantial changes following its construction.