More information : Documented in contemporary records as 'TN4 Rayleigh', a World War Two anti-aircraft gunsite at Rawreth. Equipment and manning at the site is documented at various dates (6thAA Div, 1940; Dobinson, 1996).
Aerial photograph 1946 shows four octagonal gun emplacements each have six internal ammunition recesses and appear to be of the same 'March 1938 pattern' as that show diagramatically in Dobinson 1996. Between the two northernmost emplacements an on-site magazine bunker can be seen. The command post is in teh centre of the semi-circle. Approximately 160m to the SW there are at least 16 huts.
The site has now become Rawreth Industrial Estate and the position of the gun emplacements is occupied by plant hire waste station industry. Although still extant in 1970 an aerial photograph taken in 1990 shows them to have been demolished by that date. However, a number of the accomodation huts still survive at the southern end of the estate. At least ten still remain; bick built with pitched roofs and metal frame windows; these are now in use as industrial/office units.
The huts show varying degrees of preservation of original features; however,as all are occpied scheduling is inappropriate. One or two of the huts are fairly well preserved but as a group they are not thought to rank as nationally important. It might be appropriate for the buildings to be considered for Listing.(1) |