Brixham Battery
This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2012) |
Brixham Battery and Battery Gardens are an open space on the sea shore in Brixham, Devon at grid reference SX920569. They are a traditional observation point for Brixham trawler races, both past and present.
The 14-acre (57,000 m2) site of Battery Gardens was first used as a battery in 1586 during the war between England and Spain. The Battery was not permanently armed but was certainly active throughout the
All that can be seen today was built from June to September 1940 immediately following the defeat and evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk after the fall of France.
Of the 116 emergency batteries built in 1940 from
The Battery
-
No.2 Gun Floor & War Shelter (B.O.P in background)
-
Battery Observation Post (B.O.P)
-
The Altmark
A "battery" is a category of artillery weapons and the soldiers who operate them. The World War II coast and defence batteries had two main guns, anti-aircraft weapons and, in the case of Brixham, extra harbour defence guns.
A total of about one hundred officers and soldiers manned the Battery. The Battery was originally manned by soldiers from the Royal Artillery, but following the receding threat of invasion the Battery was later manned by 378 Battery – of which almost all were members of the Home Guard.
History
1776–1890
It is known that as far back as 1586 a gun platform was established in battery grounds against the threat of attack from Spain. This was maintained until 1664.
From 1776 to 1890 the battery was known variously as Furzdon, Furzeham, Furzham, Furzedown and Fishcombe point. During the end of the 18th century Brixham was the station for the western approach of the Royal Navy, and as such was a very necessary port for the Navy, especially during the American Civil War.
When France joined America in 1778 and Spain in 1779, the Board of Ordnance decided that, along with other naval stations along the south coast of England, Brixham was to be protected by gun emplacements.
Battery gardens was to be the most westerly battery covering the harbour. The militia were to prepare the positions, and the guns, 24 pounders, arrived in May 1780 at the same time as the Berry Head guns (the site of a Napoleonic fort a little along from battery gardens). The land being commandeered, compensation being paid in 1783 at the end of hostilities.
At the start of the French wars the land was purchased and the guns returned. Again the guns were removed at the end of hostilities. The battery was still a military station in a report of 2 June 1862 and was manned by the 11th Devon Artillery Volunteers, Royal Garrison Artillery.
In a naval return of 13 March 1891 there had been a 64 pounder muzzle loading rifled cannon at Furzham on 1 April 1889. This was mounted on gun racers about where number five gun had been eighty years before.
1940–1945
The role of Brixham Battery, in conjunction with a similar battery at Corbyn Head,
The Brixham Battery and a similar one at Corbyn Head,
In 1940, during the
The
There were, however, many occasions on which the anti-aircraft defences at the battery were in action against the hit-and-run raiders attacking Brixham harbour and shipping in the Bay. These included Messerschmitt Bf 109s carrying a single 500 lb (230 kg) bomb, and later the Focke-Wulf Fw 190s which carried a formidable 1,000 lb (450 kg) bomb.
Brixham Battery Heritage Group & Museum
Created in 1999, the Heritage Centre Group is committed to the promotion of the history of the Brixham Battery as well as the environment, flora and fauna. The volunteers have overseen the expansion of its on-site education centre within the grounds of the gardens, known as Brixham Battery Heritage Museum.[4]
Notes
- ^ "Heritage Gateway - Results". www.heritagegateway.org.uk. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
- ^ "World War II Emergency Coastal Battery and remains of a Victorian practice battery, at Battery Gardens, Brixham - 1020411 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
- ^ "Froward Point National Coastwatch Institution (NCI)". National Coastwatch Institution. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
Among the buildings which still stand are the BOP and a store. The former is now the NCI Watch Station, and the latter houses the Visitor Centre and generator room. The BOP retains many original features, including the steel shutters which can be seen in the top photograph, taken before Coastwatch refurbished it! The site is now owned by the National Trust.
- ^ "History of the Battery". Brixham Battery. Retrieved 8 April 2024.