Heugh Battery Museum

Coastal artillery battery that fired on the German fleet in 1914

The Heugh Battery is a coastal artillery position on the Hartlepool Headland, dating from 1860 and still equipped with its WWI six-inch guns. It's the only battery in mainland Britain to have engaged the enemy in either World War, and the bombardment of 16 December 1914 killed 130 civilians in the town.

The volunteer-run museum tells the story in detail, with the original ammunition handling rooms, plotting rooms and gun emplacements all open. There is a memorial tablet on the headland nearby for Private Theophilus Jones. Allow an hour and a half.

things to do museum landmark
A story
On 16 December 1914 three German battlecruisers bombarded Hartlepool — the first attack on British soil in the war. The Heugh Battery returned fire from these guns; soldier Theophilus Jones, hit by a shell on the headland above, was the first British soldier killed by enemy action on home soil in WWI.