GM448

Anti-aircraft and Coastal Battery West of Lavernock Point  

22/08/1995  

Designated  

Vale of Glamorgan  

Sully  

318051  

167919  

Defence  

Battery  

Post Medieval/Modern  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a combined heavy anti-aircraft and coastal battery together with associated structures dating from WWII. The battery (Item 'A') consists of two pairs of gun emplacements together with a command post and magazine. Each gun emplacement features a concrete holdfast and ready-use ammunition lockers. Earthen banks protect the two eastern gun emplacements; concrete defences encircle those on the west. The guns could also be depressed for firing out to sea. The partly buried command post is located on the north-west side and controlled the laying and firing of the guns in their anti-aircraft role. A five-bay concrete magazine is located on the SW side. It is partly buried and surrounded by a blast wall for protection. Item 'B' comprises the gun house, a heavily protected single-storey concrete building used as a workshop and storage facility. It is located c. 150m to the north-east of the battery. Item 'C' is a coastal searchlight emplacement, originally one of a pair, located 275m south-west of the battery. It is a concrete-built structure and features the well-preserved remains of searchlight housing on its south side. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of World War II anti-aircraft and coastal defence practices. The monument is well preserved and is an important relic of actions taken against the perceived threat of German military activity in and above the Bristol Channel. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits. The importance of the monument is further enhanced by the group value formed by the association of the individual structures within the overall defensive scheme. The area to be scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.