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Summary

A gun emplacement or pillbox in the easternmost part of the site. Situated above the former adjacent quarry, it covered the outer harbour

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1020411: World War II Emergency Coastal Battery and remains of a Victorian practice battery, at Battery Gardens

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX95NW/131
• Tide Project: 16/11/2023
• Torbay HER: MTO53004

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• PILLBOX (World War II - 1939 AD (Between) to 1945 AD (Between))

Full description

Torbay HER record (SMR record). SDV361984.

A concrete pillbox sited at the top of the cliff face at the quarry edge overlooks the outerharbour. It has a triangular, rather than hexagonal, ground plan with a concrete slab roof with an overhanging front and bevelled corners. The entrance is on the northwest side (now blocked up) and leads out into a sunken brick-faced passageway. This curving unroofed "sunken" passage is circa 30 feet in length; the walls are approximately 6 to 8 feet high. The "passage" joins the pillbox to a small concrete and brick, roughly square structure to its north: possibly an ammunition store for the gun emplacement? The main gun emplacement/pillbox structure has only the one embrasure. Initially thought to contain a 20 pounder gun; it has been reported that it housed a Hotchkiss 6 pounder of an 1885 pattern. The interior room size, estimated by looking through a very small opening, is approximately 7 feet wide by 2 metres high. It has no internal richochet wall [entry compiled from several sources given below].

Coleman, R., 1989, The Purpose and History of the Battery at Battery Gardens, Brixham, 12-13 (Monograph). SDV362008.

Harbour gun. In the bushes above the path down to the quarry car park there is the emplacement for a gun emplacement that covered the harbour entrance and inshore targets. An ammunition store was nearby.

Hellis, J., 1990, JH Site 00577 (Ground Photograph). SDV317694.

Coleman, R., 1994, Battery Gardens (Correspondence). SDV317693.

There is a gun emplacement in the bushes above path down to the quarry car park. It covered the harbour entrance and inshore targets.

Fiorato, V.J., 1999, Gun Emplacement above Battery Gardens south steps, Slides (Worksheet). SDV362259.

Slides showing the entrance 'tunnel' to the pillbox above Zenica Steps and views from below.

Phil Newman, 2001, Battery Gardens, Brixham, Devon: An Archaeological Survey, 13, pl. 14, plan (Report - Survey). SDV362290.

Newman, P. + Salvatore, J., 2003, An emergency coast artillery battery at Battery Gardens, Brixham, Torbay, 222, Fig. 3 (Article in Serial). SDV318361.

Pillbox situated above the quarry in the easternmost part of the site and overlooking the outer harbour. It is triangular on plan with a concrete slab roof. The entrance, now blocked, on the north-west side leads into a sunken, brick-faced passageway. The narrow gun slot on the front has a protective steel doorway. It is thought that it once housed a 6-pounder Hotchkiss gun.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7779 - World War II sites in Torbay
• EDV7848 - Archaeological Survey by Phil Newman - May 2001

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