MoD Shoeburyness

MoD Shoeburyness
Shoeburyness, Essex
Clock tower at Horseshoe Barracks, Shoeburyness
MoD Shoeburyness
Coordinates	51°32′14″N 0°48′27″E / 51.53710°N 0.80741°E / 51.53710; 0.80741
Type	Firing Range
Site information
Open to the public	No
Site history
Built	1849 (1849)
In use	1849–Present

MoD Shoeburyness is a military installation at Pig's Bay near Shoeburyness in Essex.

In 1849 the Board of Ordnance purchased land at South Shoebury with a view to setting up an artillery testing and practice range. (Until then, Plumstead Common and Woolwich Common had been used, but these were no longer viable due to the increasing power and range of the weapons.) Its use grew significantly during the Crimean War. Around this time the officers' mess was set up in a former Coastguard station on what is now Mess Road, and a series of houses were built alongside, facing the sea, for the commandant and other officers. In 1856 a garrison hospital was established nearby.

In the wake of the Crimean War the Royal Artillery School of Gunnery was established at Shoeburyness in 1859, with Horseshoe Barracks and various other amenities being added not long afterwards. Over the years that followed Shoeburyness was integral to the development of new and improved artillery weapons. As a result, more space was required for this work to continue, and from 1889 the establishment expanded on to a 'New Range' to the north-east, which encompassed Foulness and Havengore. An accidental explosion in February 1885 killed seven Royal Artillery personnel.

The Experimental Branch (part of the School of Gunnery since 1859) became an independent operation in 1905 (it was renamed the Experimental Establishment in 1920, and the Proof and Experimental Establishment (P&EE) in 1948, before becoming part of the Defence Test and Evaluation Organisation (DTEO) in 1995).

In 1920 Shoebury was redesignated as the 'Coast Artillery School' of the Royal Garrison Artillery, following the move of the Field Artillery and Horse Artillery equivalents to a new establishment (the School of Instruction for Royal Horse and Field Artillery) at Larkhill. In 1940 the Coast Artillery School was moved from Shoebury to Llandudno, where it remained for the rest of the Second World War, before relocating to Plymouth.