# Verne High Angle Battery & Forbidden City (Portland Part 1)



## sYnc_below (Dec 9, 2013)

Bit of a mish mash and not my normal thing but I know some might find this of interest...just clearing down hard drives of shit from earlier this year 

Gotta love a good roadtrip and this certainly fell into that category. Already having not slept for 24 hours I collect Winch at 03:00am driving through a town full of pissed up 18 year old nubiles sprawled across the streets in their own piss and vomit on the way before hitting the motorways for a 4 hour non stop blast to the South Coast and the Isle Of Portland where we hit one place after another before a 4 hour return journey eventually getting home at 23:30 on the following day.

Winch's estimations of 'loads of holiday traffic' proved unfounded and we rocked up at some stupid time of the morning when only the gulls were awake. He managed to catch some ZZZ's but I couldn't so went for a mooch around Verne High Angle Battery.

For those that don't know its a derelict fort built in 1892 as part of our coastal defences. Originally it had six gun pits for 9" RML guns (Mk VI high-angle muzzle loading gun) set at 70 degree angles but not long after two more pits were built. The guns could spin through 360 degrees and the shells were stored in two tunnel magazines fed by rail.

During WW2 it was used as an Anti-Aircraft Battery and to store ammo in preparation for D-Day. It's very tucked away and easily missed being down in the base of an old Portland Stone quarry and at stupid O'Clock in the morning was nice and chilled.

I'll be brutally honest though and say it didn't really do it for me, as historically significant as it is and it being the best preserved Battery of its type in the UK I just can't get excited about this sort of stuff so feel free to call me a neophyte or even a heathen...

But I was there, had nothing else to do and a camera so please enjoy some pix. If you want to read about this place in more detail (and with far more enthusiasm than me) take a look at the excellent work by David Moore at Victorian Forts and in particular the following PDF: http://victorianforts.co.uk/pdf/datasheets/verneha.pdf
































Later on we fought through thick undergrowth and comedy pallisade squeezes, past the many rumoured (non-existant) 'CCTV cameras' reported by some paranoid explorers we came across, to visit the curiously named Forbidden City AKA East Weare Battery.

It's not Forbidden and its not a City, both of which set you up for a serious anticlimax.

East Weare Battery to use it's correct name is another Coastal Battery built between 1862 and 1869 on the west of Portland Harbour. Unlike Verne High Angle Battery this one is virtually at sea level at the base of the Verne cliffs. It was designed with six batteries (A-F) mounting an intended total of 27 guns which were a mixture of 9 and 10 inch Breach Loaders. Amongst the battery's are a mixture of other buildings - Detention Barracks, Gunners House, Artillery Stores, a redoubt, Battery Observation Post, Lamp Room etc. In 1915 the disused Battery D was handed over to the Navy for explosives storage in the magazine and much later during WW2 some of the gun pits were roofed over. In recent times both A and B Battery were used for Fire Training by the Navy and as a result are very damaged.

As previously stated, for more detailed info please checkout: http://www.victorianforts.co.uk/pdf/datasheets/eastweare.pdf


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## krela (Dec 9, 2013)

Very tidy indeed, thanks!


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## smiler (Dec 9, 2013)

Hey, some places grab you and some don’t, but from your pics I quite fancy a mooch around these sites, Many Thanks.


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## flyboys90 (Dec 9, 2013)

That was ace thanks for sharing.


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## The Wombat (Dec 9, 2013)

Great photos
looks an inteesting place


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## woodland pixie (Dec 14, 2013)

Love this place.. great photos and your write up made me laugh


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## UE-OMJ (Dec 14, 2013)

I enjoyed that, thanks


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## borntobemild (Dec 14, 2013)

cheers Tocsin. I like that sort of place.


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## jammy (Dec 19, 2013)

Did you find the toilets??!!
 Been up here a few times , great place...


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## sYnc_below (Dec 20, 2013)

aron90 said:


> Did you find the toilets??!!



No, but I wasn't really looking very hard and I only went in a couple of the structures


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## night crawler (Dec 20, 2013)

Well I really like the report and thought the first one in relly good condition compared to the second but then some one had to go and lower the tone. Do I really want to see someones bare arse, NO!


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## jammy (Dec 21, 2013)

sorry slight lack of judgement on my part have deleted pic.


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## DJhooker (Dec 27, 2013)

looks like a fun place to run around, i must check out this portland place.


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## tomcharcoal (Jan 13, 2014)

I lived on portland for 3 years. I found the first bit ok but not the forbidden bit. Portland is fascinating but a bit grim too..
Thanks


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## godzilla73 (Feb 3, 2014)

Neophyte! Heathen! Still, a good weekend despite your lack of sleep Mr. Bang! 
Godzy


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## Hitcher (Feb 4, 2014)

Thats awesome, love to ave a squizz....


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