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HAA
Brown Down Ranges
Recorder- D. Goodwin & P. Cobb. (1)
Documented. (2)
Browndown (Solent P40) HAA Battery (centred at SZ 5792 9961) was established with four gun 3.7-inch static guns between March and June 1942 (NRHE 1413411). Located on the western edge of Browndown Common it covered the western end of Stokes Bay. RAF aerial photographs indicate the HAA was built between March and June 1942. It comprised four embanked gun emplacements can be forming an arc open to the east with a single rectangular hut, probably the command post located at the centre of the arc, but no apparent associated accommodation for the battery has been identified from aerial photographs suggesting the crew were billeted elsewhere. The earthwork remains of the site were mapped from aerial photographs taken in 1942 (3) as part of the Historic England Gosport HAZ project. When photographed in 1946 the site had been cleared, but the circular concrete holdfasts for the the guns and the traces of the levelled embankments around each gun could still be seen (4,5).
The gun emplacement is situated immediately to the NE of the site of a large circular mound believed to be the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow (NRHE 461580) located at SZ 5789 9956. There is the suggestion of clearance of the vegetation on the top of the mound and paths leading from the HAA barrery visible on the 1942 photographs which be evidence activity associated with gun emplacement (3).
The earthwork remains of three further small gun emplacements were also seen on wartime aerial photographs to the NE of the main site. These were located at SZ57947 99666 , SZ57999 99632 and SZ 58056 99707(3). These may be associated with the HAA, but could also be part of the practice trenching and military training activities on Browndown Common.
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