Listed Building record MDR9825 - Former Rifle Range, off Jacksons Lane, Belper

Former rifle range, off Jacksons Lane, Belper, built in 1803. Site is shown on late 19th century OS maps as 'Rifle Range', with 'Marker's Butt' and 'Flagstaff' at the west end of the range. 'Ashlar target wall with two stone/earth butts. There are steps to the flat top wall. The Rifle Range on the Chevin was known as The Battery Wall. It was built in 1803 for musket practice by the Belper Militia, raised by Lt Colonel Strutt, in readiness for Napoleon's expected invasion. It has not been used since.' (1) From the National Heritage List for England: 'SK 34 NW BELPER NORTH LANE 950- /6/10002 Former Target Wall and Firing Butts. II Former firing range. Circa 1800, the target wall dated 1800. The range is comprised of a tall tapering target wall, aligned north east-south west. approx. 25 metres long and 5 metres high. The wall is built of coursed squared gritstone, with a heavy flat gritstone coping. To the south east of the wall are a group of 5 regularly- spaced rectangular coursed stone firing butts or platforms, the first being approx 150 metres from the wall, and spaced every 25 metres thereafter. HISTORY: the firing range was built for the local militia, The Belper Volunteer Battalion, raised by Strutt family who established the textile factory communities at Belper and Milford. Lt. Cl. Joseph Strutt was the battalion commander. The range was used during the Napoleonic Wars, and again in 1860, during the Boer War and the First World War. The firing range is important evidence of the part played by local militias in the national defence strategy of the early C19, and is a rare survival of the period. Listing NGR: SK3415845879.' (2)