# Spurn Point batteries – East Yorkshire – Nov 2012



## Munchh (Jan 13, 2013)

This was an eventful day not just because of the explore itself but because it started the night before when I made the 300 mile trip north to Doncaster to meet up with Rich Cooper. On arrival around 10pm, and after the usual pleasantries which occur between online friends who have never actually met had taken place, I found myself drinking Jack Daniels finest with Rich and Lesley. This went on until around 2am at which point Rich informed me that we were off at 7am in the morning!

We just about managed to peel ourselves out of our beds and with me driving headed off to Spurn point. A fairly straightforward journey you'd think but with the pair of us 'hanging' somewhat we managed to contrive to drive the same bit of road about three times and then proceeded to cross the Humber bridge in both directions (not planned) before arriving at our destination. Once we arrived though the slight excesses of the previous night disappeared with the chill air and we were in full concrete mode within minutes.

There is so much to see here both underground and above and the joy for a military history enthusiast is that you really do have a full time span of both world wars laid out in a spit of land some 3 ½ miles long and down to only 50 yards wide in places. The fact that we were here on the eve of the Armistice just added to the whole experience in both sombre and exciting ways.

After covering Godwin Battery and 'Murray's Post' (report here http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=24377#.UPMWj-TgdZo), Rich and I made our way down the spit toward the 'Light Temporary Battery' located at the end of the peninsula. There is plenty to see along the way and before I launch in to the photos of the days exploits, a little info and history is called for. 

“Spurn Point Battery is located at TA 3980 1069 and was built for four 4.7 inch weapons in 1915. In 1916 two further guns were installed but this later became a separate site called Green Battery. Named after General Sir William Green, its guns were mounted in circular concrete pits, with two battery observation posts (BOP) on the extreme left and right of the emplacements. Green Battery comprised two 9.2" BL Mk10 guns on Mk5 mountings, it was a carbon copy of the nearby Godwin Battery. Construction began in 1915 and the defences were rebuilt during World War 2.

The Light Permanent Battery was situated a few hundred yards to the rear of the Temporary Battery. The guns were placed in concrete barbette positions with magazines below. Behind this was a BOP and a large engine room, which provided most of the power for the fort.

Both the Light Permanent and Temporary Batteries at Spurn were equipped to deal with lightly armed vessels or MTB's; heavier craft would be dealt with by the Green Battery. By late 1916 the battery was operational, and in 1917 the two seaward facing 4.7 inch guns in the Light Temporary battery were given the task of supporting the Outer Examination Service.

At the outbreak of the Second World War the battery gained two 12 pounder guns mounted on the beach in front of the battery in event of torpedo-boat attacks. The battery and its armament was significantly modified by 1941. In early 1940 the 4.7-inch guns were repositioned and replaced with two 6-inch guns. The 4.7-inch guns were removed completely in April 1941 and exchanged for 4-inch weapons. 

As well as this, new lighting was needed and so seven 90 cm DEL's and two 120 cm CASL's were installed. A new engine room was built to power these lights behind the twin 6 pounder positions and extra generators installed in the old magazines at Green Battery. 

In September 1940 the 12 pounder guns were removed and in April 1941 the remaining 4.7" guns were removed and transferred to Sunk Island. The last guns installed at Spurn were two 4" BL Mk9 ex-naval guns, brought to cover the area behind Spurn Point, which was an examination anchorage.*

A number of different anti-invasion defences were constructed along the length of the spit, with various anti tank blocks, road and rail blocks, pillboxes, spigot mortars and field guns. Other wartime building work included the construction of a permanent road the length of the spit and a new BOP for the 6" guns. 

Spurn Point Battery survives in near complete condition. The complex of First and Second World War structures are situated in a vulnerable headland position. Aerial photography from 1993 shows that all the gun emplacements remain, but the ones at Green Battery have Second World War anti-aircraft emplacements at them. The battery observation posts and direction towers have gone, but various ancillary buildings survive, some of which have been reused. The coastal artillery searchlights are still visible, but are subject to dune build up.

Spurn Point was finally demilitarised in 1959.

The Port War Signal Station was built outside the confines of the fort and had its own barracks, officers' quarters and Wireless Station, all enclosed by a concrete wall. It was active during WW2 and housed the fire command for the Humber Defences. A coast artillery Radar set was installed there in December 1943.”

All above descriptive text is taken from the English Heritage document at http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=916014

Source for the descriptions of individual structures (ie EA numbers) - English Heritage document “Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey, Bempton to Donna Nook”

So in no particular order, I give you Spurn.







EA253 Monument WW2 AIR RAID SHELTER
Air raid shelter. Semi-sunken, rectangular plan pre-cast concrete bolted panels, emergency exit hatch inthe roof at the N end, the entrance doorway is reached by steps at the S end. 50 person capacity shelter constructed using ‘cut and cover’ trench technique. The monument, trackways, a barbed wire fence and other military buildings of unknown function are visible. Centred at TA 4055 1146 is visible a potential weapons pit.







EA259 Monument WW1/WW2 PORT WAR SIGNAL STATION, SPURN HEAD
This Port War Signal Station was in control of the anchorage around Spurn Point. The new concrete
structure, erected in 1915, stood some 450m to the NE of the entrance to Spurn Fort at TA 4046 1138. It housed the Fire Command Post and was provided with its own barracks, officers’ quarters and wireless station, all enclosed by a concrete block wall with two flanking blockhouses. At the start of WW2 it was re-activated and in 1943 a Coastal Artillery radar was installed. A ground photo of 1950 shows that it was still in use. The concrete block Fire Command Post tower was sited on a raised platform protected by an angled wall on the seaward side. Behind the platform, 1.7m lower, were the floors of the barrack buildings. Most structures were demolished by YWT in 1976, the tower in 1979, but building bases and other structures above and below ground remained in reasonable condition including rooms connecting to a brick-lined tunnel linking the site to EA262. The surviving barrack floors were of concrete slabs, with walls of hollow blocks, and external brick surfaces.











In goes Rich











There is another level below the wall at the end of this shot but you'd need a shovel and a lot of time to reach it.






WW1 or 2 graffiti courtesy of Lance Corporal Stott






The air was heavy down here, we could taste the dust despite the periodic vents to the surface






EA262 Monument WW1/WW2 BLOCKHOUSE & OBSERVATION POST OR BEACH DEFENCE LIGHT
WW1/WW2 structure built against the cliff near this location consisting of a lozenge-shaped concrete block blockhouse with single splayed embrasures at either end. On the back edge of the roof was an upper transverse concrete slab walled and roofed open-ended passage protecting the entrance to a sand-filled tunnel which connects it to the Port-War Signal Station. This was concealed or camouflaged by a rusticated concrete structure built on the front edge of the blockhouse roof. It is assumed there was a hatch into the lower structure. The blockhouse was protected from erosion by a projecting section of the timber plank revetment which extended N and S, behind which were several small concrete anti-tank cubes. The lower structures are periodically buried by sand. The upper structures are considered at risk of collapse.

This among other things was at the end of the tunnels in the previous set of pics











EA292 Monument WW1 LIGHT PERMANENT BATTERY/WW2 BATTERY OBSERVATION POST
Two concrete gun emplacements, which made up the Light Permanent Battery housed 4” Quick Firing guns, and had shelters to the rear. These guns were intended to counter any threat from light craft or motor torpedo boats. The guns were removed in 1928 as the battery was wound down. During WW2 the emplacements were not re-used, but were superimposed by a battery observation post. Also visible near the observation post were the bases of demolished ancillary buildings and the ramps of a vehicle inspection area and SW of there, structural remains in heavy vegetation which were inaccessible at time of visit, as well as a vertical access shaft to an underground building.

Magazines
















Overgrown up top






EA302 Monument WW1/WW2 LIGHT TEMPORARY BATTERY
At the S end of Spurn, the Light Temporary Battery was built in 1916 as a set of four 4.7” emplacements positioned in an arc across the spit, two facing seaward, two to the Humber. Both sets of guns had two twin 6-pdr emplacements superimposed during WW2 (c 1940), the army’s standard anti Motor Torpedo Boat weapon, which was used in conjunction with similar weapons at Bull Sand Fort to produce an effective crossfire. The emplacements are concrete structures which were also roofed during WW2.





Main Magazine






Gun emplacements











EA294 Monument WW1/WW2 GREEN BATTERY
WW1 coastal defence/anti bombardment battery was the largest and most powerful on Spurn Point.
Named after General Sir William Green. The battery took the form of two circular 9.2” emplacements, with a concrete ramp leading to their magazines. Disarmed in 1933 a 3.7” heavy AA gun was installed into No. 2 gun pit in WW2 and a hut was built within No. 1 gun pit, although probably post war. The W emplacement has a large corrugated post-war building in place. Each emplacement has small crew shelters to the N and ammunition bunkers to the W.

The Gun emplacements are hard to photograph on the ground and one is now being used as a workshop but hopefully Rich will have some pics of them. I did get a couple of shots around the perimeter though.












EA300 Monument WW2 BATTERY ENGINE HOUSE
Large flat-roofed brick engine room was used to house the engine which powered the searchlights
that served the Light Temporary Battery during WW2. It replaced the earlier, less powerful engine
room, and could power the seven 90cm and two 120cm coastal artillery searchlights, as well as
providing power for the rest of the camp. Immediately SW of EA299.






EA304 Monument WW2 COASTAL ARTILLERY SEARCHLIGHT EMPLACEMENTS
Set of three coastal artillery concrete and brick searchlights. They take the form of a single storey,
rectangular emplacement with a double door in the rear wall and a large, curved opening in the front
wall. There is a circular vent over the searchlight emplacement, this provided cooling for the
searchlight while it was in use.











There are a few other remnants around 

A rail block






A vertical rail type roadblock











A Fire trench

“I'm going in” he says. This was a tight squeeze and serious danger of losing your gonads on the corrugated iron shuttering











and a revetted AT ditch






Over to Rich now I think to fill in some of the goodies I've missed. He's reported on this place with Danny before of course and knows the area very well.

All in all a fantastic weekend in great company. There's more to see but it would make this report far too pic heavy to show it in one lump. Hope you've enjoyed.


----------



## chris (Jan 13, 2013)

Superb report


----------



## RichCooper (Jan 13, 2013)

Nice report Mark one more trip and it should see me finishing the odd bits off ready for the complete run down.


----------



## magmo (Jan 13, 2013)

Great report, wery well documented, make sense of what I have seen there....


----------



## Munchh (Jan 13, 2013)

RichCooper said:


> Nice report Mark one more trip and it should see me finishing the odd bits off ready for the complete run down.



Can't wait Rich, and I'm coming back. Best get the JD in now mate lol 



magmo said:


> Great report, wery well documented, make sense of what I have seen there....



Thanks magmo. It's taken me til now to gather the research together just for this report. Rich has put in more time, more research and more visits and will post the (hopefully) definitive account of Spurn in the near future.


----------



## explorer101 (Jan 13, 2013)

very nice report... great documenting even though i havent fully read it through!


----------



## oldscrote (Jan 14, 2013)

Good stuff as always Munchh,looks like a good day was had by all.


----------



## outkast (Jan 14, 2013)

outstanding, thanks for posting


----------



## flyboys90 (Jan 14, 2013)

Excellent report & photos,thanks for sharing.


----------



## Munchh (Jan 14, 2013)

oldscrote said:


> Good stuff as always Munchh,looks like a good day was had by all.



Thanks oldscrote, hopefully you can join me on the next venture north which is a possible for Feb/March.


----------



## Ramsgatonian (Jan 14, 2013)

Very informative and thorough!

Great report.


----------



## Tizzme (Jan 16, 2013)

Fantastic pictures and write-up,Maybe the best report i have read ! Many thanks.


----------

