1919 - Penarth Head Fort and Coastal Battery - A map indicating the extents and layout of the fort and battery.

Penarth Head was the site of a two gun coastal battery forming part of the defences of the Severn Estuary and the approaches to Cardiff and Penarth docks. The defences were constructed in the late 19th or early 20th century and are recorded in a detailed set of drawings, dated 1919, held by the National Archives (WO/78/4324/001-006). These plans show both gun positions, each housing a 6 inch Mark VII gun, together with the buildings and storerooms required by the garrison.

An aerial photograph held by the RCAHMW (WPW029385) dated 1929 shows the battery buildings but the Number 1 gun appears to have been removed. No. 2 gun is possibly present but obscured by what appears to be tarpaulin. It is possible that this coincided with the decommissioning of the battery sometime in the 1920s.

The site was sold off at public auction in October 1931 (DSA/6/895).

A site visit was undertaken in 2017 confirming that the remains of the coastal battery have been completely demolished and the area covered with housing. It is likely however that buried remains survive, particularly given the strength and depth of the foundations required for this type of structure. Nevertheless, a single surviving War Department boundary Marker (PRN05567s) was discovered.

'GGAT 137 Defence of the Realm : Coastal Defence and Port Facilities : South East Wales and the First World War' [1108] [1109]

1903 - Penarth Head Fort - Testing the New 6-inch Quick- firing Guns - 'The two 6-inch quick firing guns and their mountings at the new fort on Penarth Head were tested on Friday. The officers present were :- Cosine Hopkins, Captain Carlyle (Inspector of Ordnance Engineering), Capt. Wilkins. R. A., and Lieutenant Fellows, R. A. Three 100lb. shells were fired from each gun in quick succession, and the test proved entirely satisfactory.

Householders in the vicinity took the precaution, as they were advised to do, of keeping their windows open. The wind, however, blew from the west, off the shore, and very little damage was reported, with the exception of the windows in the officers' quarters immediately behind the fort, which were smashed.

Just as the first shot was fired the steamer 'Marchioness' was rounding the Penarth Head on her way from Bristol, and there was some excitement amongst the large number assembled on the cliff and those on board.' - Evening Express [135] [361] 28th November 1903.