Water tower and ablutions block, Robert's Battery. Photo Northumberland County Council.

Robert's Battery at Hartley was constructed in response to the threat of a bombardment of Tyneside in the First World War. Tyneside was initially protected by an old battleship permanently based on the river as a guardship but, in 1916, other commitments prevented the continuation of this cover. Instead the Army were offered two redundant gun turrets for emplacement on land and two identical batteries were constructed at Marsden, near Sunderland (Kitchener Battery) and at Hartley (Robert's Battery). Construction began in 1917 but was unfinished at the end of the war. The estimated cost was £64,000 and work was completed in September 1921. They were short-lived and by 1924 the Committee of Imperial Defence recommended removal of the turrets. The most likely reason for abandoning the batteries was the obsolescence of the 12 inch guns. Dismantling of the guns and equipment was underway in April 1926.
The Hartley battery utilised a 12 inch gun turret from the 1898 battleship HMS Illustrious. A complex and independent observation and fire control system was required. The battery had two transmitting cells and two receiving cells, one each to the north and south of the battery, and a Barr and Stroud split image range finder in a rangefinding post. Extensive underground works were constructed including shell and cartridge stores, engine room, etc. A 30ft Barr and Stroud post was the Battery Command post and had officers' accommodation attached and now survives as a private house (Fort House). The post was surrounded by a defensible wall, which still survives, pierced by rifle loopholes and including at one corner a defensible latrine. Inside the walled area were domestic buildings eg, wooden huts, water tower, etc.
There are no visible remains of the two receiver posts to the north and south of the battery, the northern demolished in 1986 and the southern in the 1960s. There are also no remains of the north transmitter, and the south transmitter lies in Percy Gardens, Tynemouth.
The underground works have now been partially filled and one rangefinding post is derelict, the other a private house (Fort House). A Chain Home Low radar station was established on the site of Hartley Battery in the Second World War, the buildings of which still survive (HER 27376).
The Tyne Turrets are the only example in the British Empire of the utilisation of a complete ex-naval battleship turret on land. The underground works represent one of the largest military engineering projects of their day. The surviving Fire Control buildings are important as a part of the whole system and as a rare example of early long range optical fire control. (1)

Fort House, Grade II* Listed Building. A house incorporating the concrete control tower of a fort c.1917. The tower is octagonal with battered sides and small windows below a parapet. The tower carried the rangefinders for Robert's Battery, the northern of two Tyne Turrets, situated c.250m to the NNE.
Boundary wall around Fort House with attached structures, Grade II* Listed Building. The wall is the former perimeter wall of the fort and is made of concrete except on the south where there is coursed rubble with slag coping and an earlier building incorporated, probably of 18th century date. The south wall has entrance gate with concrete piers with pyramidal caps, painted white. The wall is flat-topped and stands 1.2m to 1.5m high with internal buttresses carrying stubs of stanchions for barbed wire fencing. Gateways on north and east wall. Projecting pill box at north west corner. Attached blockhouse near south end of west side.
Outbuilding 60m south west of Fort House, Grade II* Listed Building. Water tank incorporating former ablutions building, part of c.1917 fort. (2)

The pillbox incorporated in the perimeter wall is a rare First World War survival. (3)

In the early 1960s it was possible to enter the underground workings by a tunnel which emanated near the base of the cliff just south of crag point. The tunnel was approximately 100m in length and led to a series of chambers connected by a main corridor running parallel to the tunnel. The western end of the corridor opened out sideways like the trancepts of a church. Although the "transepts" had been filled with earth and rubble they were evident from the surface 8m or so above. Access could be gained from the surface via a manhole and a short tunnel which led to a shaft, the base of which emanated in one of the chambers. On the surface the concrete plinth for the 12 inch guns was still very much in evidence together with a concrete blockhouse near the cliff edge. A recent site visit showed these remains were no longer exist and the mouth of the tunnel into the underground workings had been blocked by rocks. (4)

The Roberts Battery was one of two 12" gun turrets reused from HMS Illustrious, with one to the south at Marsden, to protect the River Tyne's mouth. These batteries were not completed until after the end of World War I and were decommissioned in the 1920s. Nothing remains on the surface of the main gun battery, though the supporting features can be found nearby. The underground facilities can be partly seen from the shore where they have been exposed by the collapse of the cliff. (5)

A preserved encampment and command post dating from the First World War and a later Second World War battery which was never fully finished. The battery was mostly buried underground with aperture for guns protruding just above the cliff. The remains face ongoing threat from cliff retreats and collapse but this is disguised by the fact that the only visible remains of the emplacement, which date to the Second World War emplacement, are those that remain on the surface in pasture field. The subterranean element of the complex is now inaccessible as it has been sealed with backfilled rubble for safety purposes. The site is a rare example of an exceptionally well-preserved First World War facility with the latrines, water tower and storage blocks all still maintained. Fort House itself retains many original period features and this, along with the other buildings present on site, represents a chance to investigate the original function and use of the site.
The surviving remains at Fort House represent the best preserved example of a First World War facility surviving on the North East coast. The water tower and store buildings, are exceptionally well preserved and, although the original barrack blocks have long since been demolished, the current owner has built two modern garages to the original design and on the location of the former barracks, although they are aligned differently. The site therefore retains some of its original feel and character.
The associated buildings, such as store facilities and a brig, sit within a larger surviving enclosure, which has been modified in some parts but as a whole retains the original outline of the camp. At the north west corner of this enclosure there is the only surviving example of a defended First World War latrine block.
Fort House itself, although now a private dwelling, was originally the Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers quarters, the kitchens, the Officers mess, Commander's Office and Battery Observation Post. Much of this is still preserved in the internal layout of the building. The mess room and main corridor boast elaborate original features, an echo of earlier British army traditions, and the mess still has a large service hatch to allow food to be passed through which shows the massive thickness of the structure's walls.
Other miscellaneous features can be seen in the garden of Fort House and these are presumably related to the original First World War camp. A ventilation pipe of unknown function can be seen against the south wall of the garden. This would appear to be contemporary with or to pre-date the wall of the compound but its precise function remains unknown. Elsewhere in the garden there is evidence of low graded earthworks which could be the position of former features within the camp. (6)

Seven evaluation trenches excavated within the grounds of Fort House in 2019 revealed the remains of original World War One fort structures surviving to varying degrees across the site. (7)

Coastal battery. Earthwork remains at cliff edge with a possible World War II building near the roadside. Constructed during the period 1939 to 1940. Part of the track layout is visible, and the remains of a linear feature are at 34247614. Large circular gun emplacement at 34267614 is now filled in, and only a slight depression is visible today. [information from 1994 aerial photographs]. Part of the Northumberland coast defences - Defences of the Northumberland coast line and immediate hinterland. Located near Hartley village. (8a)

Roberts Battery located at NZ 343 762. Roberts Battery was one of a pair of coastal batteries known as the Tyne Turrets that were built to house 12 inch guns removed from the warship HMS Illustrious. Completed in 1921 the battery comprised the guns mounted in a turret, with a reinforced concrete underground complex. Between 1925 to 1926 the battery was closed and hardware sold for scrap. (8b-c)

Survival classification is 3: Partial remains of the original site still visible. Aerial photography from 1994 shows earthwork remains at the cliff edge with a possible Second World War building near the roadside. Part of the track layout is visible and the remains of a linear embrasure are located at NZ 3424 7614. A large, circular emplacement at NZ 3426 7614 is now filled in and only a slight depression is visible. (8d)

Aerial photograph referenced in source 4. (8e)

Further photographic evidence. (8f)

General association with NRHE UID 1479865 (Kitchener Coastal Battery, South Tyneside) (8)