The cliff-top Bayle Battery originated as a means of defending the sea approaches to the Bayle of harbour. There appears to have been a battery near or on this site since 1698. A new battery was built on this site for four guns. During the Napoleonic Wars a Martello Tower at Copt Point on the eastern side of the harbour crossed its fire. The present battery was reconstructed in 1854 and consisted of an irregular arc of eight guns on traversing platforms facing to seaward with a centrally placed flag staff and a domestic building behind. The report of the Committee on Coast Defences in 1870 noted that there was a magazine for 54 barrels of gunpowder. The battery was offered for sale in 1888 and from that date has been in the possession of a succession of private owners. This has resulted in the mutilation of some of the structures and the addition of several buildings and adaptions from the 1930's to fit the site for priate occupation.