In 1860 a Royal Commission reported on the state of our coastal defences and in 1861 it was decided to build a battery at Puckpool. James and John Langdon builders of Ryde, built the fort within three years using bricks made on the adjoining Appely estate. The battery was defended on the seaward front by wide ditch, behind this a clay rampart covered with turf which protected the mortars. Between 1865 and 1867 a barracks for four officers and 67 men was built (it is now the cafe). Failure to find firm ground for another fort on Sturbridge or Ryde Sands led to the installation in 1873 of powerful guns at Puckpool. The four 11-inch rifled muzzle-loader (RML) guns were towed from Portsmouth. During World War I, Puckpool was manned by No. 32 Company, Royal Garrison Artillery. After the war the battery was sold to St. helens Urban District Council which opened it as a public garden in 1929. In 1939 the battery and the holiday camp behind became H.M.S Medina and were used to train men for the Fleet Air Arm. In 1939-40 the cilivian Air Raid Precautions had teltphone centre in a shelter, while Observer Corps had a post on top of the East Mortar magazine for plotting enemy air raids. A gas decontamination centre was also built. Puckpool was once home to a radio museum which housed some of Marconi's experimental equipment and an aquirium.