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Report - - Grain Tower Battery - 30/01/10 | Military Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Grain Tower Battery - 30/01/10

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MADMAX

Member
28DL Full Member
HISTORY
The original structure at Grain Tower, built in 1855, was based on the earlier Martello Towers that were first constructed as a defense against Napoleon in the early 19th century. It stands off shore on Grain Spit in the Medway and the original tower was built of brick covered in granite. The fire from Grain Tower would support that from Garrison Point and would defend both the entrance to the River Medway and the sea front of Sheerness. The guns of the 1855 Tower were mounted on the roof and fired en barbette (that is, the gun is fired over a wall rather than through an embrasure).

In the early 20th century the tower was upgraded to be armed with two 4.7in BLs. In order to accommodate these guns a raised concrete and stone structure was built on the roof, which in addition to providing a platform for the guns, also provided shelter that could be used for stores and fire control. At the same time work was undertaken within the main body of the tower to make better ammunition storage to supply these new guns.

Shortly after these modifications a boom defense was constructed across the River Medway towards Sheerness. The tower became an anchor point for this boom, connecting it to Grain beach.

Further additions and modifications were made during the Second World War, in particular the large roofed emplacement that supported a twin 6pdr QF gun. Behind this was a directing tower and a light emplacement. The biggest addition at this stage was the barrack block; it was made of concrete and stands on stilts with access to and from the main tower. It is now abandoned.

EXPLORE
Me, Cobra and Links Rover headed from our first explore to Grain Isle distance 12 miles, time for journey 1 and half hours (according to Tom-tom :crazy) 20 minutes later we arrived at the end of the road in the village of Grain, parked up at the very end of the track and started to make camp.
It was 4am by now so we decided to settle down in The Hotel DeTransit and retired for are 2 hour sleep (0645 was the low tide time). As quickly as I had closed my eyes it was time to wake up, which felt like 2 minutes :rolleyes: Within 5 minutes the guys were up and the cooker was on for a nice hot cuppa.
It was finally time for our speed march out to the tower/ We were not 100% sure on what the time the tower was swallowed up by the tide once more, so there was no time to waste.
It took about 15 minutes to get to it with the odd stop for pictures, by which time a can truly say my fingers were the coldest they've ever been on an urbex. I struggled to even press the shutter button down for most the time we spent on there. Keeping an eye on the incoming tide, we headed back and made the most of the sun coming out as we left.
Another one done, it was time to head onwards to the Shorts Tunnels.

Anyway, here are the pics:

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