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Summary

Heavy AA Battery at Bere Alston, Plymouth. Site never armed. Visible as earthworks and structures on aerial photographs and recorded during the Tamar Valley NMP project.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX46NE/556

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 4308; 51/15 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Royal Air Force, 1946 - 1949, Royal Air Force Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV342938.

Map object partly based on this source.

Pye, A., 1992, Plymouth Fortress Survey (Report - non-specific). SDV167755.

Bere Alston Anti-Aircraft battery. A World War II heavy anti-aircraft battery located on a spur circa 0.5 kilometres to the south of the village of Bere Alston. Built in 1942; subsequently (?)demolished and reoccupied in 1944; presumably abandoned in 1945-6. Intended for aircraft using the landmarks of the rivers Tavy and Tamar to approach Plymouth from the north. Consists of four gun emplacements in a ring facing west, north-west, north-east and east, with a sunken command post/observation post/accommodation block on the south side; no magazine evident unless it has been completely filled in and covered in vegetation, most probable site would be at the centre (as at Down Thomas). Site bisected by an earlier field bank and ditch, partly demolished to accommodate two of the gun positions. These all survive complete with gun mountings, expense magazines and shelters and are now roofed and used as farm stores. The control post etc is also complete, but derelict. Access was from the west, where a sentry post survives; three other ?Nissen huts have been demolished. Similarity of gun mountings and arrangement of emplacements to the four at Down Thomas suggests an armament of four 3.7" guns. Whole site survives complete and in very good condition as the four emplacements have substantial well-maintained roofs. The control post however is decaying and overgrown although it still retains its roof and is complete apart from its internal fittings.

Horner, W., 1993, Bere Alston HAA Battery (Worksheet). SDV323301.

Bere Alston Heavy Anti-aircraft battery. Four gun-emplacements survive in a horseshoe formation, facing west, north-west, north-east and east. Sunken Command post on south side. The gun emplacements survive with gun mountings, expense magazines and shelters have been roofed and used as farm stores. The Command post is complete but derelict. A sentry post survives to the west. (Source : Pye, 1996)

Pye, A. + Woodward, F., 1996, The Historic Defences of Plymouth, 228 (Monograph). SDV167752.

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

Dobinson, C. S., 1996, Twentieth Century Fortifications in England: Anti-aircraft Artillery, 1914-1946, 435-6; WWII HAA & ZAA (Report - non-specific). SDV356328.

Bere Alston heavy anti-aircraft battery. Plymouth no 12. First documented in June 1942 when it is referred to as unarmed and unmanned.

Cornwall Archaeological Unit, 2001-2002, Tamar Valley National Mapping Programme Transcriptions and Database Records, RAF 540/226/F10/5307-8 (Interpretation). SDV346287.

Earthworks and structures of a modern gun emplacement are visible on aerial photographs. Map object partly based on this source.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2016, Backlog Recording of the Tamar Valley National Mapping Programme Survey (Personal Comment). SDV359374.

There appears to be some discrepancy in accuracy of features mapped during this survey with those that are mapped on the modern Ordnance Survey mapping, for example the two structures to the east of the site. This error is likely due to the scale of base map used during the NMP rectification process. Only part of the photo reference is given in the transcription attributes, so the date of the photographs is not known.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6911 - Tamar Valley National Mapping Programme

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