PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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RIFLE RANGE AT MOUNT BATTEN
The Mayor of Plymouth, Mr W H Alger, fired the first shot when he officially opened the rifle range at Mount Batten that had been constructed for the use of the 2nd (Prince of Wales) Volunteer Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. The date was Tuesday May 25th 1886. In fact the range had been in use for many years by both the army and the volunteer forces: it was the butts that were really new. They were the only ones of their kind in the West of England. There were twenty stout iron targets supplied and fitted in place by Messrs Willoughby & Sons, of Plymouth, and the same number of equally stout masonry shelters for the markers. These were placed to the left of the butt to which it was attached. Each shelter had a single pane of glass in the right-hand wall so that the marker could see the target. Work began on the construction on April 20th 1886 and in order for the Range to be completed by this date the workmen had been on site from 5am until 8pm every day. The clerk of works was Private J Bulleid. Among the large gathering of military personnel present for the opening were Colonel Newman, inspector-general of the reserve forces of the Western District; Colonel Currie, of the Dockyard Artillery; Lieutenant-Colonel Pitts; and Lieutenant Bewes. Lieutenant-Colonel Pitts in his speech of thanks to the Mayor revealed that when the Corps was first formed they used this same range but that it then had only one target. A few years later it was taken over by the Government and they had to move to Ernesettle. This was very inconvenient so they returned to the Mount Batten Range after the Royal Marines agreed to giver up a few hours a week of their allotment. They had now been using it for fifteen years. It was largely thanks to the efforts of Mr Kinton Bond, the corps' secretary, and Mr Charles Norrington, their treasurer, that they were able to raise enough money to carry out the present improvement. Luckily the Admiralty had decided to give up the lease on the Range and Lord Morley transferred it to the Plymouth detachment. Even Messrs Willoughby had done their work at a reduced tender of only £30 as a donation to the cause and Mr Reed, who had constructed the shelters, had also not made any profit out of his work. The plans had been drawn up and the work supervised by Colour-Sergeant Griffin and Mr John Pethick had lent some of his experienced men to help blast the rock. The ceremony was, of course, followed by luncheon, at which they were joined by Mr Albert Groser, editor of the Western Morning News and the recruitment officer for the Corps, and Chief Constable Wreford. Source:
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