St Martins Battery was first built in 1876 to provide protection to Dover from the expected French invasion and was first outfitted with three teniinch rifled muzzle loader, the battery was then closed in 1909. In 1940 the site was reopened as an Emergency Coastal Battery, it was modified and renamed the Western Heights Battery; it was outfitted with three six-inch breach mounted guns – hence the modification to the site as the loading style differed from the earlier method.
As well as the reopening of the site, a deep shelter was dug to provide protection from any German bombardment for the one hundred and forty personnel who manned the battery. The deep shelter was an extension to the Victorian magazine and was of corrugated iron construction; in recent times there has been damage due to fire and a small collapse of the chalk tunnels.
The battery has been closed since 1947 and has since been preserved.
