More information : The World War II coastal battery on the north-western tip of Brean Down was surveyed at 1:1000 by the RCHME in June 1995 as part of a landscape survey of Brean Down (ST 25 NE 32) (1).
The battery of Brean Down was part of a chain of coast defence batteries known as the Fixed Defences, Severn, planned to protect the Bristol Channel ports. Work began at Brean Down in 1941, when 930 Port Construction and Repair Company of the Royal Engineers undertook the building of jetties and fortifications at Brean Down, as well as at Steep Holm and Flat Holm (2).
The remains comprise two gun emplacements with associated buildings, two searchlight positions, a battery observation post, and an area of accommodation and service buildings. A device for launching experimental weapons also lies close to the gun positions. The gun emplacements and some of the service buildings occupy the site of a Victorian fort (ST 25 NE 11).
The two gun emplacements lie inside the Victorian Fort (recorded at ST 25 NE 11; 191330), at ST 28025925. They are both built on the sites of Victorian gun positions. The northern World War II emplacements has destroyed the centre gun position of the Victorian Northwest Battery; that to the south occupies the site of the Victorian Western Battery, which was destroyed by an explosion in 1900.
The World War II gun positions are typical of those built in the coastal defence batteries after the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. Each comprises a sub-rectangular concrete building, 15m long and 11m wide. This contains a flat gun floor: a sub-rectangular concrete platform which held the bolt ring or holdfast, the mounting for the 6" ex-naval gun. Below and surrounding the gun floor are the remains of ammunition lockers, some with their armoured doors. The gun floor was reached by a flight of concrete steps. The guns and gun crew were protected against aerial strafing by a steel and "plastic" armour roof. The bases of the steel girders which supported this roof are still visible, the remainder of the structures have been removed for safety. Each gun position has a building to house the gun crew. That for the northern emplacement is sited directly to the rear of the gun floor; that for the southern gun position was built on the south side of the gun floor as there was not enough space to accommodate such a building to the rear.
Two coast artillery searchlight (CASL) positions are sited at ST 27945932 and ST 28025918. That to the north is built on a rock outcrop on the north-western extremity of Brean Down. The concrete bridge linking it to the mainland has been destroyed at some time since 1970 (3). Both the CASL positions are standard buildings of this type. They are concrete built, measure 7m long and 4m wide, and are divided into two by a brick partition wall. At the open end, which contained the light, the semi-circular walls are topped by metal tracking, along which ran metal shutters. A central channel in the floor of the building contained the power supply cables. The southern CASL position has a cantilevered concrete roof, now supported by modern steel girders. The front portion of the roof of the northern CASL position has been flipped over into the remainder of the roof by recent storms.
The battery observation post (BOP) is situated at ST 28095916 and overlooks the gun positions. It comprises a concrete building, 13.5m E-W and 7,5m N-S, terraced into the cliff and constructed on two levels. The lower level comprises one room, measuring internally 6.2m N-S and 4.5m E-W. The western wall has an opening at eye-level, and in the south-western corner is a square concrete plinth, which would have held a Lewis gun (4). The walls have the remains of metal fittings for cables, and a service channel lies in the floor. Access to the upper level is by a small hatch in the eastern wall. The door, approached by a flight of concrete steps, lies in the northern wall and has a metal frame. The upper level is divided into three rooms. The largest room measures 6.5m N-S and 4.5m E-W and also has an opening in the western wall at eye-level. The door, approached externally by a flight of concrete steps, lies in the northern wall and has a metal frame. A circular concrete plinth with a central metal fitting, which probably held a range-finder or other instrument lies close to the opening. Metal fittings for cables and a service channel are visible on the walls and floor respectively. The remaining two rooms both open off the main room. They measure 3m N-S and 3.6m E-W and each contain the remains of a stove and chimney. Both the levels have cantilevered concrete and girder roofs, now supported by modern steel girders. A concrete pad for a pre-fabricated structure, probably a Nissen hut, lies 15m to the north-east of the BOP.
The remains of the accommodation buildings for the battery are centred at ST 28143927. They comprise 22 concrete pads which formed the bases of Nissen huts, which were demolished by 1954 (5). Twelve of these lie on the floor of a disused quarry (ST 25 NE 34), they are reached by a flight of concrete steps and linked by concrete paths. Remains of water pipes and sanitary fittings are visible on some of the hut bases.
Two concrete hut bases lie by the Military Road at ST 28125922, they may have been used for garaging or stores. The small concrete-lined pit close to these bases, at ST 28115924, is a vehicle inspection pit. Two futher hut bases, flanking the Military Road at ST 28075930 and ST 28065927, may have been guard rooms or stores. The remains of a guard post lie on the south side of the Military Road at ST 28355918.
South of the Military Road the remains of two water tanks lie at ST 28105921. These comprise two brick-lined pits, 4.3m square and 2.5m deep. One contains the remains of a metal water tank, and both are now filled with demolition rubble. A ruined generator building lies in the disused dry moat of the Victorian Fort at ST 28045925. Three concrete pads for pre-fabricated buildings lie in the moat to the north-east of this. The Victorian barrack buildings and latrines were modified and used during the World War II occupation of the site.
The remains of experimental launching rails are situated to the north-west of the gun positions at ST 27985932. These comprise a length of rail 17m long, with a concrete platform at the north-western end. They were installed by the Admiralty, based at HMS Birnbeck, Weston-Super-Mare, and used for testing rockets and other unorthodox weapons (4).
The mounting for a range finder lies at ST 28045922, on the edge of the disused dry moat of the Victorian Fort. It comprises a cylindrical concrete pillar, 1.15m high and 0.4m in diameter, with two depressions on the top for mounting. It stands on a circular brick plinth 2.2m in diameter. This probably held a Watkin Depression Range-Finder, used to observe targets and correct the fall of fire (2). There are no remains of a semi-circular brick shield wall, like the one surviving at Summit Battery on Steep Holm.
The remains of metal land anchors lie on the edge of the cliff at ST 28055917, between the CASL and the BOP. A circular hole, cut into the bedrock on the cliff edge at ST 28055917 is 2.3 in diameter and at least 0.5m deep. An iron stay with barbed wire is fixed on the top of the eastern edge. This may be an emplacement for a 29mm Spigot Mortar, which was often used to defend coastal batteries. There is no evidence for the concrete mountin drum (known as a thimble). The pit may never have had a gun installed or the thimble may have been removed, although the latter is quite unusual (6). The purpose of two amorphous holes in the bedrock at ST 28275906 is unclear.
Brean Down fort, dating probably from the Napoleonic Wars period, and was refortified during World War II. The WW2 structures included 12 x accommodation huts, 2 x 6in gun positions (holdfast bolts remain), 2 x battery searchlights, and 2 x OPs. There are other WW2 buildings whose purpose is unclear.Two gun emplacements are in good condition, and the BOP lies to the rear of these structures. The two CASLs are in good condition to the W and S of the emplacements and the BOP respectively. [information from 1987 aerial photographs].
LOCATION: At the tip of Brean Down, a peninsula to the S of Weston-super-Mare. (7)
The structures associated with Brean Down Fort, as refortified during the Second World War, are visible on aerial photographs, centred at ST 2806 5927. The structures comprise the fort buildings, gun emplacements and searchlight positions as described above (1-7). The Nissen huts used for accommodation and storage and the concrete bridge to the searchlight position at the northwestern tip of Brean Down are still standing on the 1948 photographs, but have been removed by photographs of 1954. (8-11)
Brean Down Fort located at ST 281 593. The coastal battery was built at Brean Down Fort during the Second World War. Two 6-inch naval guns were positioned in holdfasts built over the 1860s gun pits for rifle muzzle-loading guns. The battery was reduced to care and maintenance in 1943. (12-13)
Aerial photography from 1987 shows two gun emplacements surviving in good condition. The Battery Observation Post is clearly visible to the rear of these structures. The two coast artillery searchlights are in good condition to the west and south of the emplacements. There are a number of semi-sunken ancillary buildings on the headland and a large number of building bases are located on the north side of the peninsula. (14) |