Browndown Battery also known as Browndown Fort is a fort in Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

First erected in the mid-1840s as one of the Palmerston Forts

Palmerston Forts

The Palmerston Forts are a group of forts and associated structures, around the coast of Britain.The forts were built during the Victorian period on the recommendations of the 1860 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, following concerns about the strength of the French Navy, and...

, after this period the fort was continuously modified and its protective ability strengthened until 1888/1889.

It was equipped with two 12.5" RML guns this was until 1904, but these were then replaced by two 9.2" BL guns, the battery was then closed in 1905.

The camp has been used by the Royal Marines

Royal Marines

The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

 Small Arms Corps (1922 - 1959), South East District as a Minor Training Facility in 1961 and 121 Weekend Training Centre up to the mid 1970s. The current predominant use now for Browndown Camp is by ACF

Army Cadet Force

The Army Cadet Force is a British youth organisation that offers progressive training in a multitude of the subjects from military training to adventurous training and first aid, at the same time as promoting achievement, discipline, and good citizenship, to boys and girls aged 12 to 18 and 9...

, CCF

Combined Cadet Force

The Combined Cadet Force is a Ministry of Defence sponsored youth organisation in the United Kingdom. Its aim is to "provide a disciplined organisation in a school so that pupils may develop powers of leadership by means of training to promote the qualities of responsibility, self reliance,...

, ATC

Air Training Corps

The Air Training Corps , commonly known as the Air Cadets, is a cadet organisation based in the United Kingdom. It is a voluntary youth group which is part of the Air Cadet Organisation and the Royal Air Force . It is supported by the Ministry of Defence, with a regular RAF Officer, currently Air...

 & Territorial Army units for Adult training and Cadet courses. It was also transformed into a 1950's National Service camp for the 2002 ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 reality show Lad's Army.

Facilities at the Camp include accommodation for Soldiers, NCOs and Officers, a cook house for Soldiers, indoor lecture room/ cinema, Sgts mess, Officers mess, various other buildings within the camp perimeter. Outside the perimeter an Assault Course and a 25 Metre Range, the beach is used for training, and is ideal for beach landing practice due to the location to Marchwood

Marchwood

Marchwood is a village and civil parish located in Hampshire, United Kingdom. It lies between Totton and Hythe on the western shore of Southampton Water, next to the New Forest. The population of the village in the 2001 census was 5,586.-History:...

, the old Fort is useful for defence exercise but not up to any decent OBUA type exercise.