Monument record SLY 079 - Shotley Point

On 1944 photographs, a possible World War II gun emplacement is visible as 3 circular structures, centered on TM25343414. The three structures are circa 3.5m in diameter, and are arranged in a line roughly 2m apart to command a view of the intertidal zone off Shotley point. They may be constructed of concrete, but it is not possible to be certain from the photographs and, towards the end of the war, more temporary construction techniques became common. It is just possible to make out central features on two of the emplacements, which may be gun mountings. The 3 emplacements also appear to be connected by a trackway, and to be associated with the possible pillbox structure (SLY 078) which may also have served as an ammunition store. The proximity of this site to a barrage balloon mooring site suggests a possible use as a light anti-aircraft artillery emplacement, but it is equally possible that it served as a beach defence battery, intended to defend against enemy landing forces gaining access to the vulnerable land around Shotley Point. More substantial coastal defenses would have been on hand in the form of the artillery training batteries already on-site at Shotley naval base (see SLY 094). (S1-S3).
Old battery marked on map of 1867 (S4).