Monument record BAW 050 - East Lane, Emergency Coast Defence Battery

East lane battery was built as an emergency battery in 1940 as part of a series of defences erected with some haste due to the imminent threat of invasion and housed two 6"guns salvaged from first world war battleships. The emergency battery, consisting of two reinforced emplacements (now minus the roofs visible in 1971) with attached magazines and machine housing. A Battery Observation Post (BOP) in excellent condition at (BAW 186). Two surviving Coastal Artillery searchlights at (BAW 099 and BAW 187). Perimeter defences are visible as a series of type 22 pillboxes. A small number of anti-tank cubes are at 35703960. The whole site is under some threat from coastal erosion, but the BOP and main battery position are under a more considerable threat from any expansion of the lagoons / silt traps built adjacent to them. [information from 1995 aerial photographs].(S1)
Bawdsey coastal battery, an emergency battery built during the Second World War as part of Eastern Command's coastal defences. The battery was commissioned in July 1940 and mounted two 6-inch ex-naval guns. By November 1943 the battery was manned by the Home Guard, until 1944 when the guns were reduced to care and maintenance and it was handed over to 332 Coast Battery Royal Artillery. The battery comprised two gun emplacements connected by a walkway with attached magazines and machine houses, a battery observation post and two coast artillery searchlights. Defences included a series of pillboxes and anti-tank cubes. Bawdsey Battery survives in excellent and near complete condition (S2).

WWI pillbox at TM 357 402 was part of this record but is now BAW 162