| Summary : The remains of the Second World War Portbury (Sheepway) anti aircraft battery and military camp. Four octagonal emplacements, support structures and extant buildings, were mapped from aerial photographs taken in 1946 and 1947. The construction of four reinforced concrete gun emplacements (a half battery), located adjacent to Atherton House, north of Sheepway village and east of Portishead dock, (centred at ST 4869 7660) was began in 1938. The battery was manned by No. 237 Battery, 76th Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery. Sited in a semi-circular arc, with the convex plane facing westwards to Portishead dock, each of the four gun emplacements is an open, octagonal enclosure about 13 metres in diameter with shoulder high external walls. Inside each emplacement are ammunition alcoves for shells stored on wooden racks. Each gun emplacement has an engine room building and a crew shelter outside. Guns at the site may have been varied, including 3.7 inch and 4.5 inch guns as well as 40mm Bofors guns and GL Mark II radar. To the rear of the four gun emplacements is the battery's command post, which would have contained the range finder/predictor. Also nearby are two magazines. The military camp adjacent to the heavy anti aircraft battery is accessed from Wharf Lane and consists of rectangular military buildings of varying size, some with pitched roofs and some Nissen huts. First hand accounts by ex-servicemen describe the camp as being well-appointed, with a Naafi, interconnecting sleeping huts with mattressed beds and indoor ablutions with hot water and flushing toilets. Aerial photographs taken in 1989 show that the camp and battery has been decommissioned and the whole site in a disused state: all of the camp buildings have been demolished, although some of their concrete bases are still visible. However, the gun emplacements, command post and magazine of the anti aircraft battery are still visible but much overgrown with vegetation. |
More information : The Second World War Portbury (Sheepway) anti aircraft battery and military camp, visible as four octagonal emplacements, support structures and extant buildings, were mapped from aerial photographs taken in 1946 and 1947. Located adjacent to Atherton House, north of Sheepway village and east of Portishead dock, the construction of four reinforced concrete gun emplacements (a half battery) centred at ST 4869 7660 began in 1938. The Portbury (Sheepway) battery was manned by No. 237 Battery, 76th Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery. Sited in a semi-circular arc, with the convex plane facing westwards to Portishead dock, each of the four gun emplacements is an open, octagonal enclosure about 13 metres in diameter with shoulder high external walls. Steelwork embedded in the centre of the concrete base in each emplacement is the holdfast which secured the gun. Inside each emplacement are ammunition alcoves for shells to be stored on wooden racks. Two rooms were provided on the outside of the emplacement, one was a small crew shelter and the other an engine room with a motor driving a hydraulic pump for training, elevation and the automatic ammunition loading machinery. Guns at the site may have been varied, including 3 inch, 3.7 inch, 4.5 inch, and 5.25 inch guns as well as 40mm Bofors guns. To the rear of the four gun emplacements is the battery's reinforced concrete command post (ST 4870 7659), also constructed as an emplacement with a small earthwork bank on the west and north side, which would have contained a range finder/predictor emplacement. accommodating the new No. 11 predictor, an electro- mechanical 'computer', fed with radar data. After ballistic adjustments had been made i.e. (wind speed, temperature, air pressure etc.) it would predict a future position of the target which would be applied to the guns automatically as bearing, elevation, range and apply a fuse number to the automatic fuse setting machinery. Thus when fired the time of flight of the shell was taken into consideration and the shell should arrive at the same point as the target and at the same time. The battery's two magazines are to the south (ST 4871 7655).
Centred at ST 4878 7665, the military camp adjacent to the heavy anti aircraft battery is accessed from Wharf Lane and consists of numerous rectangular military buildings of varying sizes. Many of the buildings have pitched roofs whilst some are Nissen huts. First hand accounts by ex-servicemen describe the camp as being well-appointed for the time, with a Naafi, interconnecting sleeping huts with mattressed beds and indoor ablutions with hot water and flushing toilets. It is likely that the camp also served crews from the two nearby barrage balloon sites (ST 47 NE 128 and ST 47 NE 129), bombing decoy (ST 47 NE 127) and type 24 pillbox (ST 47 NE 130). Aerial photographs taken in 1989 show that the camp and battery has been decommissioned and the whole site in a disused state: all of the camp buildings have been demolished, although some of their concrete bases are still visible. However, the gun emplacements and command post of the anti aircraft battery are still visible but much overgrown with vegetation. (1-5)
After the war th battery remained in uase as a Nucleus Force Battery Headquarters. (6) |