Description

The following building shall be added:-

WHALEBONE LANE
TQ 48 NE
North (east side, off)
8/10
Anti-aircraft site at
TQ48738975
II
Anti-aircraft gun site. 1935-9. Brick with concrete render, and reinforced
concrete; felting to roofs and some walls of accommodation blocks. All buildings
single storey. Two command posts each with 4 gun emplacements set in a
semi-circle on eastward side and linked by concrete roads; between each pair of
emplacements, on outer side, is an ammunition store with blast walls; to
south-west of northern command post are 3 detached blocks (probably 2 ammunition
stores and a vehicle store), and another one to south-east of southern grouping
(near to 2nd emplacement in anti-clockwise direction and probably for vehicle
store). The command posts are comprised of clustered semi-subterranean
accommodation blocks and walling; the southern one having a circular brick gun
base. The gun emplacements are octagonal, each having 2 opposed entrances, that
at inner side formerly gated and having, outside the emplacement, 1 or 2
ammunition stores; the outer entrances have screening walls and next to each was
a subterranean corrugated iron shelter of which only fragments now remain; within
each emplacement are 6 small ammunition stores having opposed metal doors and,
inside, crude poles forming racks (the doors and poles now removed from a number
of stores); in the centre of each emplacement is former gun position marked by
holdfast bolts sunk in the concrete base. The larger ammunition stores (each
serving 2 emplacements) are of 5 bays, defined by pilaster butresses, with
windows and metal doors alternating (a number of windows now blocked and doors
removed); inside are 5 cells, some with shelves, connected by front corridor;
around each store are blast walls; the store at south-east corner of northern
grouping has a watch tower. Two of the detached blocks to south-west of northern
grouping have reinforced metal doors and ventilation holes at eaves; the larger
one has 3 larger metal-louvred openings on west side.
This anti-aircraft gun site formed part of the Inner Artillery Zone which
surrounded London. It survives particularly well and is significant, also, in
being a purpose-built 8-gun site (most sites had only 4 guns). The site saw a
considerable amount of action 1940-41. Information from report by M Gilman. See
also History of Anti-Aircraft Command Defence of Great Britain.

Listing NGR: TQ4873089728

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26353713

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)