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Summary

A landing craft maintenance site of Second World War date is visible as a range of structures on aerial photographs of 1943 onwards and on digital images derived from aerial photographs taken in 2012, at Lower Noss Point. The facility was constructed by the US Navy in 1943-44 as part of the preparations for D-Day and Operation Overlord.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1021076: D-Day landing craft maintenance site on the River Dart immediately to the south of Lower Noss Point

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 1377678
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX85SE/331
• Old SAM Ref: 33059

Monument Type(s) and Dates

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

Full description

United States Airforce, 1943, US/7PH/GP/LOC133, US/7PH/GP/LOC133 FV 7004 30-DEC-1943 (Aerial Photograph). SDV351450.

The landing craft maintenance site is visible as a range of structures.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, RAF/CPE/UK/1890 RS 4061-62 10-DEC-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV351061.

The landing craft maintenance site is visible as a range of structures.

Royal Air Force, 1958, RAF/58/2549, NMR SX 8752/9 RAF 30137/PSFO-P1-0380 27-AUG-1958 (Aerial Photograph). SDV351446.

The former landing craft maintenance site is visible as a range of structures, although three mooring posts have been removed.

Royal Air Force, 1960, RAF/58/3510 F21, RAF/58/3510 F21 245-46 22-APR-1960 (Aerial Photograph). SDV352350.

The landing craft maintenance site is visible as a range of structures.

Ordnance Survey, 1963, SX85SE (Cartographic). SDV338028.

"Slips" recorded on Ordnance Survey 6" (1963) map.

Ordnance Survey, 1984, OS/84170, OS/84170 V 100-01 04-JUL-1984 (Aerial Photograph). SDV352491.

The landing craft maintenance site is visible as a range of structures, although the two huts of the onshore maintenance facility have been removed.

Jury, R., 1996, Lower Noss Landing Craft Maintenance Facility (Worksheet). SDV339405.

Visited 17th June 1996. Lower Noss landing craft maintenance facility. There are two sets of concrete rails built on the river bank so that work could be done on the hulls of US landing craft at low tide. Green posts mark the edges of the site. No onshore facilities seen.

Jury, R., 1996, Lower Noss Scrubbing Rails (Worksheet). SDV357264.

Site visited on 20th August 1999. Five photos of the detail of the site taken, two of the 'rails' and three of very overgrown shore installations, including a Quonset hut in relatively good condition.

Channel Coast Observatory, 2001-2012, Channel Coast Observatory Aerial Photography, Channel Coastal Observatory SX8752 18-SEP-2012 (Aerial Photograph). SDV351226.

The former landing craft maintenance site is visible as a range of structures.

Exeter Archaeology, 2002, Archaeological Assessment of Noss Marina Kingswear, Devon, 12 (Report - Assessment). SDV336131.

24. Second World War Landing Craft Repair Facility. A US Navy landing craft facility was constructed at Lower Noss Point in 1943-44 as part of the preparations for D-Day and Operation Overlord.
Two sets of 12 parallel concrete rails, known as gridirons or scrubbing grids, run down to the water which were used for the maintenance and repair of the landing craft. The boats were floated onto them at high tide and secured at right angles, so that they could be worked on at low tide. There is no evidence for the mooring points, known as dolphins, at Lower Noss and it is possible that the landing craft were secured by concrete mooring posts instead.
A set of brick and concrete steps cut into the cliff gave access between the gridirons and the rest of the facility on the headland. The structures that formed part of the repair facility here were built on a narrow level area that was partly cut into the embankment of the disused railway cutting. They included a curved asbestos hut with an adjacent latrine, two sets of cast iron racking and a water tank.

Passmore, A., 2002, Archaeological recording of WWII structures at Noss on Dart Marina, Kingsbridge, Devon (Report - Survey). SDV363410.

One of four locations in Dartmouth chosen during the Second World War for the construction of a grid-iron, used for the maintenance of landing craft. These are sets of concrete piers set at 12 foot intervals between low and high water levels to facilitate the beaching and cleaning of landing craft. Steel piles at the seaward ends which were connected by gangways formed jetties which were used to moor the landing craft. The Noss grid-iron comprises two sets of grid irons each containing 12 piers. The steel piles do not survive.
A flight of steps leads up to a flat terraced area above the grid-iron where there is a Curved Asbestos Hut and a latrine building.

Dyer, M. J., 2002, Greenway, Galmpton: Archaeological and Historic Landscape Survey: Part 1, 10 (Report - Survey). SDV169254.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2003, D-day landing craft maintenance site on the River Dart immediately to the south of Lower Noss Point (Schedule Document). SDV339409.

A maintenance and repair site built on the east bank of the River Dart upstream from the port of Dartmouth to service landing craft during the preparations, engagement, and aftermath of the 1944 D-Day landings during World War II. The site includes two separate, but closely adjacent, arrangements of concrete piers called `gridirons' plus three earthfast concrete mooring posts and various components of the onshore facility. Operating from 1943 to 1944 the monument was one of a number of repair and maintenance sites on the River Dart which were under the control of the United States Naval Advanced Amphibious Base (USNAAB) at Dartmouth. These repair sites contributed to the preparations for the D-Day invasion of 6th June 1944, codenamed Operation Overlord, and were part of the range of shore-base and supply facilities constructed before and during the invasion. After D-Day, the importance of USNAAB Dartmouth as a base began to wane and the facilities were handed back to the British before the end of 1944. Gridirons were designed to allow flat-bottomed landing craft to be floated over them sideways at high tide and then moored, coming to rest upon the piers of the gridiron as the tide fell and thus enabling inspection, scraping, and repairs to be carried out. The two gridirons at Lower Noss are virtually identical in plan, each being about 54 metres in width and comprised of 12 parallel straight piers centred 4.85 metres apart. The piers are just over 30 metres in length and slope gently down the intertidal shore to just below Mean Low Water (MLW). The downstream gridiron, which lies about 25 metres south of its upstream companion, has a few piers at its centre which extend back to the rock face and thus exceed the 30 metres plus length which appears to be standard and which was encountered at another gridiron site at Maypool further upriver. The piers, which are built of shuttered concrete and are embedded in the foreshore shingle and mud, have a maximum width of about 0.7 metres; excavation of a gridiron site at Mylor in Cornwall suggests that the piers sit upon a concrete raft although this could not be determined at Lower Noss. Along the upper edges of each pier are a series of opposed recesses 0.6 metres in length by 0.18 metres wide and 0.12 metres deep, centred 3.2 metres apart. These recesses are believed to have held timber rails formerly laid along the piers' upper surfaces at right angles to them perhaps in order to prevent the bottom of the craft's hull from coming into direct contact with the concrete of the piers. The timber and steel mooring points (`dolphins') which would have stood within the river and which would have held the craft whilst afloat and during the positioning process, no longer survive. However, three massive concrete mooring posts, two on the foreshore and one above Mean High Water survive. Each mooring post has a deep central recess which would have held a wooden post all of which have been removed or no longer survive. The two foreshore emplacements are both about 4.5 metres square at the base and taper towards the top. Both are built into the rock face and stand about 1.9 metres high, one to the north-east of the upstream gridiron about 16m to its rear and the other to the south east of the downstream gridiron about 18 metres to its rear. The onshore mooring post, unlike those on the foreshore, is almost completely earthfast with only about 0.3 metres of its structure showing above ground. In other respects it is similar however, being 4.5 square metres with a central recess which would have once held a post. Associated with the gridirons was an onshore facility. Immediately behind the southern end of the upstream gridiron are two flights of concrete steps screened by brick-built walls. These steps give access to a levelled area which, until 2003, housed a building known as a Curved Asbestos Hut of a type often misidentified as a Nissen hut. Prior to demolition the hut was recorded by way of drawn plans and photographs. It was 11.5 metres long by 5.6 metres wide and it appears white in an aerial photograph of 1946 taken not long after de-commission which also shows the gridirons at low tide. To the south of the hut was a small brick building, 1.1 square metres and 2 metres high, also demolished in 2003, which appears to have been a latrine. A sunken stone-lined water tank survives close to the top of the steps. Some collapsed iron racking located to the rear of the hut was recorded in 2002. It consisted of two sets of racking; each set comprising three A-frames supporting two runs of shelving. The whole complex is considered to have represented a workshop or stores area associated with the repair of landing craft on the nearby gridirons.

English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009: South West, 108 (Report - non-specific). SDV342694.

Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems. Principal vulnerability development.

English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010: South West, 101 (Report - non-specific). SDV344777.

English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011: South West, 105 (Report - non-specific). SDV355280.

Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems. Declining. Principal vulnerability development.

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2013-2014, South Devon Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV351146.

A landing craft maintenance site of Second World War date is visible as a range of structures on aerial photographs of 1943 onwards and on digital images derived from aerial photographs taken in 2012, at Lower Noss Point. The site comprises two sets of gridirons of twelve parallel piers each that slope gently down towards Mean Low Water. Three mooring structures are also positioned adjacent to the gridirons, including one located in-between the gridirons and one each at either end. Associated with the gridirons was an onshore maintenance facility which was accessed via a series of steps from the shoreline. This comprised a Curved Asbestos Hut, measuring 11.5m long by 5.6m wide and a smaller hut located 9m to its south and measuring approximately 4m long by 2m wide. A concrete mooring block measuring approximately 3m by 3m is also located onshore to the south of the two gridirons. The maintenance site, which is first visible on aerial photographs of 1943, remains largely unchanged until 1958 when the three mooring posts have been removed. The two huts of the maintenance facility appear visible on aerial photographs of 1960, although have been removed by 1984. The remaining structures associated with the former maintenance site are visible on digital images derived from aerial photographs taken in 2012.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV169254	Report - Survey: Dyer, M. J.. 2002. Greenway, Galmpton: Archaeological and Historic Landscape Survey: Part 1. Exeter Archaeology Report. 02.48. A4 Bound. 10.
SDV336131	Report - Assessment: Exeter Archaeology. 2002. Archaeological Assessment of Noss Marina Kingswear, Devon. Exeter Archaeology Report. 02.38. Digital. 12.
SDV338028	Cartographic: Ordnance Survey. 1963. SX85SE. Ordnance Survey 6 inch map. Map (Paper).
SDV339405	Worksheet: Jury, R.. 1996. Lower Noss Landing Craft Maintenance Facility. Defence of Britain Project. Worksheet + Digital.
SDV339409	Schedule Document: Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 2003. D-day landing craft maintenance site on the River Dart immediately to the south of Lower Noss Point. The Schedule of Monuments. A4 Stapled.
SDV342694	Report - non-specific: English Heritage. 2009. Heritage at Risk Register 2009: South West. English Heritage Report. A4 Bound +Digital. 108.
SDV344777	Report - non-specific: English Heritage. 2010. Heritage at Risk Register 2010: South West. English Heritage Report. Digital. 101.
SDV351061	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/CPE/UK/1890. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/CPE/UK/1890 RS 4061-62 10-DEC-1946. [Mapped feature: #95510 ]
SDV351146	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R.. 2013-2014. South Devon Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. Digital.
	Linked documents:1
SDV351226	Aerial Photograph: Channel Coast Observatory. 2001-2012. Channel Coast Observatory Aerial Photography. Channel Coast Observatory. Digital. Channel Coastal Observatory SX8752 18-SEP-2012.
SDV351446	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1958. RAF/58/2549. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). NMR SX 8752/9 RAF 30137/PSFO-P1-0380 27-AUG-1958.
SDV351450	Aerial Photograph: United States Airforce. 1943. US/7PH/GP/LOC133. United States Airforce. Photograph (Paper). US/7PH/GP/LOC133 FV 7004 30-DEC-1943.
SDV352350	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1960. RAF/58/3510 F21. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/58/3510 F21 245-46 22-APR-1960.
SDV352491	Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1984. OS/84170. Ordnance Survey. Photograph (Paper). OS/84170 V 100-01 04-JUL-1984.
SDV355280	Report - non-specific: English Heritage. 2011. Heritage at Risk Register 2011: South West. english Heritage. Digital. 105.
SDV357264	Worksheet: Jury, R.. 1996. Lower Noss Scrubbing Rails. Defence of Britain Project. Worksheet + Digital.
SDV363410	Report - Survey: Passmore, A.. 2002. Archaeological recording of WWII structures at Noss on Dart Marina, Kingsbridge, Devon. Exeter Archaeology. Digital.

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6127 - Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme (NMP) for South-West England - South Coast Devon (Ref: ACD618)
• EDV8210 - Archaeological assessment of Noss Marina
• EDV8211 - Archaeological recording of WWII structures at Noss Marina

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