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Forth Defences, Inner, Dalmeny Battery
Coastal Battery (First World War)
Site Name Forth Defences, Inner, Dalmeny Battery
Classification Coastal Battery (First World War)
Alternative Name(s) Forth Defences; World War I; The Forts
Canmore ID 50553
Site Number NT17NW 177
NGR NT 13866 78245
NGR Description Centred NT 13866 78245
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/50553
- Council Edinburgh, City Of
- Parish Dalmeny
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District City Of Edinburgh
- Former County West Lothian
The battery at Dalmeny was in existence by 1903, when record drawings were made of the battery's Defence Electric Lights (NT17NW 177), engine room, oils store etc. The drawings show the location of existing buildings at that time, including the gun emplacements. A note on one drawing shwos that the lights and their engine room etc had been built between May 1900 and September 1901 at a cost of £4807 1s 4d.
The battery as recorded comprised a pair of emplacements near the west end of the site, linked by a platform and probably overlying a buried magazine; the battery command post and DEL director were situated just to the west. In the eastern part of the site were the engine house, oil store and caretaker's quarters. There was no accommodation on site for the crew.
On the outbreak of war in 1914 the battery was armed with two 4.7-inch Quick Firing guns; on the revision of the defences of the Forth in 1916-17 the guns from Dalmeny were dismounted and moved to Inchcolm, in December 1916. The two Maxim .303 machine guns that were part of the defence of the battery remained at the battery.
The gun emplacements survive in the garden of a house called "The Forts".
Information from HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project (GJB) 19 August 2013.
NT17NW 177.00 centred 13866 78245
Not to be confused with World War II Dalmeny Battery on Cramond Island
NT17NW 177.01 NT 13859 78251 and NT 13877 78246 Gun-emplacements
NT17NW 177.02 NT 13802 78382 Searchlight Battery
NT17NW 177.03 NT 13800 77889 Pillboxes: Trenches
See also NT17NE 308 for additional part of Dalmeny Battery defences
Installed 1914 at outbreak of war; 2 x 4.7" guns. Disarmed 1916. Site disposed of 1921.
N H Clark 1986
This battery is situated to the E of the Railway Bridge and bridge approach viaduct and lies in a garden of the house annotated 'The Forts'.
A two gun battery mounting quick firing 4.7-inch guns emplaced in 1914, and one .303-inch maxim machine gun on the parapet. In addition there was a small observation post and magazines. The guns were dismounted in 1916 and transferred to Inchcolm (NT18SE 22.00).
In World War Two, a battery named Dalmeny was located on Cramond Island (see NT17NE 71.00).
J A Guy 1997; NMRS MS 810/5, 40-2.
The two gun-emplacements and other elements of the battery are depicted on the current OS 1:2500 scale digital map.
Project (March 2013 - September 2013)
A project to characterise the quantity and quality of the Scottish resource of known surviving remains of the First World War. Carried out in partnership between Historic Scotland and RCAHMS.
