Military Archaeology

A Type 22 pillbox, preserved within a housing developer's landscaping scheme at Spalding Lincolnshire. (apologies for poor quality newspaper copy).

 

Nice one! Wasn't there an airfield at Spalding, Ian?

 

very nice very nice...the picture isnt that poor even considering its from a newspaper...

 

The problems of archaeology.....
This-


...is the remnants of a WW2 LAA emplacement at Hound Point, Dalmeny, just east of the Forth Bridges. It lies behind the dunes down on the shore, and there are the remains of slit trenches about 50 yards to the left of the camera.
This land is the Earl of Roseberry's estate and was used by the military in both wars. In the last war, there were at least eight barrage balloon mooring sites, an HAA battery, pillbox and military camp on the estate; all of which are long gone.
What does survive is this coastal battery from WW1-

This is the western gun. Originally a Victorian 6inch gun battery, it was remodelled for 12 pounder guns in 1914. The battery was decommissioned in December 1916.
The compartments between the levels are ready ammo lockers.



This is the eastern gun. In the second photo, you can see the tiered effect left by the remodelling. The lower level above the fire control office was the original 6 inch mounting.




The battery blockhouse lies slightly downhill from both guns, and has three rooms. The remnants of the original steel shutters mounted over the windows to fortify them can still be seen.
The original entrance road lies downhill to the right of the blockhouse, and several hut bases can still be seen alongside it.
In WW2, a barrage balloon site occupied the field behind this battery, but it's gone too!

 

Gordon, what do the initials HAA and LAA stand for? Is it High Anti-Aircraft and Low Anti-Aircraft?

 

I think it's more likely to be Heavy- and Light-...?

 

Right, Martin.
Ice, in the case of the Hound Point beach emplacement, it's thought it was a mounting for a machine gun in the AA role, rather than an artillery piece.

 

Got it, LAA would be machine guns and low caliber cannon and HAA would be artillery caliber guns. Makes sense.

 

Got across to Seton Sands in East Lothian on Monday, and found the place full of anti-invasion defences. Don't let the sunshine fool you; the wind would have cut you in two, so apologies for the couple of fuzzy snaps!
This is an overview of a roadblock guarding the exit from Longniddry Bents (Links) onto the A198 Cockenzie to Dunbar road.



And closeup of the actual blocks...




The roadblock is flanked either side by 5' tall anti-tank blocks, and these actually form a continuous double (sometimes triple)line for 1 kilometre along the north side of the road.





These blocks continue around the coast to Gullane and Dunbar, but there are large gaps in places now.....

[ 08. March 2006, 04:25 AM: Message edited by: The_Historian ]

 

..while down on the beach I found this group of the more common 3' 6" high AT blocks....



...heading a line of concreted rail lines and AT blocks extending all the way to the low water mark....




These appear to have carried on up the beach to the road, in a sort of 'breakwater' fashion.
Further along the beach is a car park with a wall built entirely of recycled AT blocks, so this 'breakwater' effect might have been a common feature here originally.

 

Check out this Liberator bomber wreck, Mill Hill, Near Glossop, courtesy of Geograph

 

At least the salvage hunters haven't completely cleared the site.
According to High Ground Wrecks & Relics by David J. Smith, the plane was being ferried from Burtonwood to Hardwicke when it crashed. The crew escaped with minor injuries.
Apparently the pilot had only had 4.5 hours experience of instrument flying in the previous six months, and was trying to stay below the cloud base.
David W. Earl, author of the volumes Hell on High Ground has his own site concerning air wrecks, but it's very frames-heavy!

Hell on High Ground

[ 10. March 2006, 07:23 AM: Message edited by: The_Historian ]

 

I hadn't realised that Eire built some defence lines in anticipation of a British Invasion. There's some pics and a map on the following link.

Click on this link and select the first result.

 

Pillboxes on the Boyne to guard against a British invasion? The irony ............
Cheers for that Ian; you've got me intrigued now on how many more there are in the Republic generally.

 

The Irish Army caught a British intelligence officer in July 1940 plain clothes recceing likely invasion routes which increased their paranoia.

De Valera's (The Irish Prime Minister) nightmare scenario was apparently a German airborne landing in the North where his choices would be 1. Join the Brits in repelling the invaders, 2. Join the Germans in liberating NI, or 3. see who looks like winning and then deciding.

 

Hmm..then he decided to play it safe; RAF aircraft were allowed to overfly Irish airspace, and German airmen/seamen caught in the Republic were quietly transported over the border to the British authorities. I remember a discussion on this on uboat.net a while back.

 

Yes but there's a theory that the Luftwaffe bombing of Dublin was a slap on the wrists for being too cosy with the Allies.

 

Even German fortifications in the Channel Islands aren't safe....
Heritage Groups angered by gun demolition
Apparently, that was a 4.7cm PaK36(T) emplacement in Jersey.
According to the Channel Islands Occupation Society previously unknown German bunkers are still being discovered.

[ 15. March 2006, 09:16 AM: Message edited by: The_Historian ]

 

'The developers have promised to rebuild it'.....yeah, right

It's certainly a theme which could be developed. I can imagine an American tourist in London asking for directions to the Tower of London.'Unfortunately, it's been demolished so that we could build a Tourism Office'
'Really !? Where was it, then ?'
'Erm...right where we're standing now...'

 

Exactly, Martin. It's like the old field at Findo Gask in Perthshire that I posted pics of; they were in the middle of building luxury villas around the tower when I was there. What's the betting the 'resident's committee' get up a petition to the Planning department to remove this 'dangerous eyesore' within a year or two........