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Summary

Searchlight Battery at Postlake Farm during 1943. Earthworks visible on aerial photographs taken in 1946 are the remains of structures and cables in the process of being removed. No earthworks are visible on later available images.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• SEARCHLIGHT BATTERY (World War II - 1943 AD to 1943 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/106G/UK/1412, RAF/106G/UK/1412 RS 4264-4265 13-APR-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV352504.

A number of earthwork trenches and mounds are visible.

Francis, P., 1999, Exeter Airport. Historic Airport Survey for Devon County Council & East Devon District Council, 140 (Report - non-specific). SDV323390.

Site EX1 21 at Postlake Farm. 506 Battery, 80th Searchlight Regiment / 469 Battery Battery, 74th Searchlight Regiment, Troop D, Oct/Nov 1943. Map object formerly based on this Source at SX 993 885 (point).

Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R., 2014-2015, East and Mid Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project (Interpretation). SDV356883.

Earthworks visible on aerial photographs taken during 1946 are probably the remains of the Second World War searchlight battery at Postlake Farm in the process of removal. A curvilinear ditch with small mounds of spoil along its length may have been a cable trench, and this branches into two, each terminating in an area of bare ground with mounds of spoil. One of the areas is fairly circular, and these are probably the locations of searchlight positions, or a searchlight and supporting Light Anti-Aircraft Artillery (LAA) emplacement. A similar feature to the north at SX9927488708 might have been a third searchlight position but could also have been a supporting LAA emplacement. What appear to be the site of three rectangular buildings, 11 by 5 metres in plan, are visible as pale mounds of earth along the hedgerows. Some have linear banks along their outer edges, presumably resulting from excavation of the wall foundations. No earthworks are visible on later available images.

Sources / Further Reading

SDV323390	Report - non-specific: Francis, P.. 1999. Exeter Airport. Historic Airport Survey for Devon County Council & East Devon District Council. Airfield Research Publishing Report. Digital + A4. 140.
SDV352504	Aerial Photograph: Royal Air Force. 1946. RAF/106G/UK/1412. Royal Air Force Aerial Photograph. Photograph (Paper). RAF/106G/UK/1412 RS 4264-4265 13-APR-1946. [Mapped feature: #105371 ]
SDV356883	Interpretation: Hegarty, C. + Knight, S. + Sims, R.. 2014-2015. East and Mid Devon River Catchments National Mapping Programme Project. AC Archaeology Report. Digital.
	Linked documents:1

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4774 - Historic Airport Survey, Exeter Airport
• EDV6530 - The East and Mid-Devon Rivers Catchment NMP project (Ref: ACD613)

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