Archcliffe gate (or South Entrance/South Gate as it was also known) guarded access to the Heights from the road that dropped down towards Archcliffe Fort. There was no Napoleonic entrance here as the original South Lines ditch lay to the west and was crossed with a basic wooden bridge. In 1860 as part of the remodelling of the Heights, a new defensive ditch was dug down to the cliff face adjacent to what would become St. Martin’s Battery 14 years later. Construction was contemporary with the reworking of North Entrance.
Work is believed to have taken three or four years. The resultant gateway was extremely impressive and ornate, and protected by 12-pounder carronades in three gunrooms at right-angles to the entrance capable of firing at any intruder in the facing ditch. A drawbridge was built in a similar style to North Entrance.
Throughout Victorian times one of the regiments provided the gate guard, although in 1898 the duty was passed to the Military Foot Police. Access to the Military area within was strictly controlled with a pass access. The drawbridge was reinforced and strengthened in 1900 to allow heavier guns to be taken across.
During 1940 an Artillery Observation Post was built on top of the gateway and a rudimentary portcullis was installed consisting of a WW1 harbour submarine net. In 1964 South Entrance was demolished to allow for road widening, the ditch filled in and a car park built adjacent to St. Martin’s Battery to make a viewing point. Today there is virtually nothing to be seen of the gate, although some of the flanking gunrooms survive embedded into the cliff across the road from the carpark in the woods.
