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Summary

A Second World War Heavy Anti-Aircraft Artillery battery and associated infrastructure are visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s as earthworks and structures, overlooking the coast at Netton Down. The site was probably upgraded to house 5.25 artillery. All visible evidence of the battery was completely removed following the war.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record (1473220): 1473220
• National Trust SMR: 100382

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HEAVY ANTI AIRCRAFT BATTERY (World War II - 1939 AD to 1945 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1945, RAF/106G/UK/967, RAF/106G/UK/967 4100-4101 01-NOV-1945 (Aerial Photograph). SDV351060.

A Second World War Heavy Anti-Aircraft Artillery battery and associated infrastructure are visible.

Dobinson, C. S., 1996, Twentieth Century Fortifications in England: Anti-aircraft Artillery, 1914-1946, 435 (Report - non-specific). SDV356328.

Roger Thomas, Architectural Investigator, English Heritage, 2012-2013, Telephone and email correspondence, Email and telephone communication (Personal Comment). SDV349402.

The site shows evidence of up-gunning to a 5.25 Anti-Aircraft artillery battery. The looped track is typical of such sites and each of the four pits to the south were probably excavated to house an engine house for a gun emplacement. A square structure to the north of the track might be the site tracker tower, rectangular buildings alongside the track the generator and gun store buildings. The installation of radar equipment is also visible. MOD documents of 1951 list Netton as containing four guns but does not list their type.
Netton was Site 11 in June 1942, part of 8 AA Division, AA Command, RA. It was vacant in June 1942 but did not necessarily remain so, and was not necessarily so previously to that date. In 1946 it was classified as an 'Off Site', i.e. one where the site was maintained but not armed and where the guns were kept in an Anti-aircraft Ordnance Depot (AAOD) and would be deployed should tensions rise. By 1951, it had become PY11, 2 AA Group Plymouth Gun Defended Area, Southern Command, South Western District.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2013-2014, South Devon Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV351146.

A Second World War Heavy Anti-Aircraft Artillery battery and associated infrastructure are visible on aerial photographs of 1945 as earthworks and structures, overlooking the coast at Netton Down. Six ovoid earthwork embanked Heavy Anti-Aircraft artillery emplacements surrounding a command post structure are visible to the north-east of the site, crossing the junction of three fields. The battery has undergone several phases of expansion and two or three styles of emplacement are visible in 1945. The probable original emplacements are flattened hexagons or heptagons with access on the inner, seventh side. Two additional square emplacements are situated immediately to the north.
The outline of a former gun-laying radar octagonal enclosure and associated central gun-laying radar platform area also visible to the west of the battery. The structures typically associated with such a battery, magazine, gun store, etc are arrayed along the western edge of field boundary to the north of the artillery emplacements. The battery accommodation follows the edge of the field boundary that flanks the lane defining the northern edge of the camp, although the camp is larger than might be expected for a site of this size. The sewage plant associated with the battery is located to the north of the lane and is also larger than normal.
A metalled track leads from the battery accommodation south-eastwards to a loop adjacent to four earthwork pits, associated linear ditches and structures that overlook Netton Down. Roger JC Thomas suggests that these features are typical of 5.25 inch artillery batteries and indicate that this site was in the process of ‘up-gunning’ to house four 5.25 inch guns. The four pits were probably excavated to house the gun engine houses, the linear ditches to the south possibly cut as drainage. A curvilinear structure circa 10 metres in diameter is likely to be a gun-house under construction. Radar and tracker tower structures are located the north of the under-construction gun emplacements.
Three rectilinear pitched-roof structures in the adjacent field to the east are interpreted as probable agricultural buildings and have not been transcribed, but it is possible they were of military function and associated with the battery.
The battery probably continued in use into the early 1950s but all structures were completely removed by 1955 and no evidence of the site is now visible.

Pink, F., 2014, South Devon Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey Desk-Based Assessment (Interpretation). SDV357736.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV349402	Personal Comment: Roger Thomas, Architectural Investigator, English Heritage. 2012-2013. Telephone and email correspondence. Email and telephone communication.
SDV351060	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1945. RAF/106G/UK/967. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/106G/UK/967 4100-4101 01-NOV-1945.
SDV351146	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R.. 2013-2014. South Devon Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. Digital.
	Linked documents:1
SDV356328	Report - non-specific: Dobinson, C. S.. 1996. Twentieth Century Fortifications in England: Anti-aircraft Artillery, 1914-1946. Council for British Archaeology Report. 1.3. A4 Comb Bound + Digital. 435.
SDV357736	Interpretation: Pink, F.. 2014. South Devon Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey Desk-Based Assessment. AC Archaeology Report. ACD618/4/3. Digital.
	Linked documents:1

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6127 - Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme (NMP) for South-West England - South Coast Devon (Ref: ACD618)

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