Knowle Battery

Knowle Battery is a 19th-century fortification built between 1863 and 1870 north of Plymouth as part of the Palmerston Forts system, designed to defend the naval dockyard. Named after Prime Minister Palmerston following invasion scares of the 1850s, it sits on a spur overlooking a tributary valley of the River Tamar between Agaton Fort and Woodland Fort. This minor defence work survives as an irregular four-sided enclosure defined by ramparts, ditch, guardhouse, and sections of gorge wall. Originally sold by the War Department in 1930, the fort was integrated into Knowle Primary School in the 1960s, where it now serves as an educational landmark. Designated a Scheduled Monument, it remains in fair condition and continues to play a role in the community's historical consciousness.