South Gare (Redcar) WW2 concrete overload

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The brick building looks like an underground ammo store, except for the fact that it's got an embrasure...odd one that! Great finds as always Jon. :)
 
Nicely done mate :) Be interesting to find out what that brick building was maybe its time we teamed up and started taking shovels out

I'll bring the bucket mate, you bring the spade lol I would love to dig that petroleum warfare site out

The brick building looks like an underground ammo store, except for the fact that it's got an embrasure...odd one that! Great finds as always Jon. :)

Cheers Foxy that brick one is a bit of a puzzler
 
one last parting shot of the place, good to see they have re lit the furnace at the mothballed steel works

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Ah thanks for that Jonney Once again you thought of me and my need for concrete on a Sunday:)No idea about the brick built bit tho'the embrasure bit looks a tad small to be of much use
 
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Thanks for the update Jonney. I think that this is probably S0010277. I've come across plenty of entries that are supposedly removed but sitting there in plain sight. The other structure may be weapon pit S0010955.

Not long ago I did some statistical analysis of all the EDOBID records and it came out that Sunderland, Hartlepool and Teeside were the most heavily defended parts of the UK in terms of numbers of recorded sites. This is probably skewed somewhat by differing survival rates of sites and the patchy nature of the original DoB survey but significant nonetheless.
 
Have you done the north gare yet? - the starfish site is quite nice and some of the beach tank traps are still visible next to the pier.

By the way, the pillbox on the beach moves around with tides etc - it was upside down last time I was over that way
 
Have you done the north gare yet? - the starfish site is quite nice and some of the beach tank traps are still visible next to the pier.

By the way, the pillbox on the beach moves around with tides etc - it was upside down last time I was over that way

Yeah I've don't the ones over at greatham creek side of the river but need to get over by the ghost fleet to do the ones there
 
Right due to popular demand...on we go

next on the way I found loophole wall S0010893 which the DoB describes as: Loopholed boundary wall of South Gare submarine mining establishment. The concrete wall surrounding the establishment had a line of loopholes, 5ft above the ground and 9in x 9in on the outside, and 18in x 18in on the inside. The loopholes are 8ft apart.

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inside and overlooking the loophole wall was a type 23 pillbox S0010894
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entry into this one was not possible as you will see there was no ladder and entry is via the roof through the LAA emplacement
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moving swiftly on I started searching for the spigot mortar emplacement S0010723 which I couldn't find and as I have seen photo's of I know it still exists. I think the reason for this is that the DoB has it marked as a pillbox and the pillbox as a spigot mortar anyway that's for another day as well. Pillbox S0010181 is built into the breakwater and I nearly walked straight past it

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it has been back filled due to a road and a path being on the top of it
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Entry would have been through the top of the pillbox
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This pillbox also overlooked some gun holdfasts that are not as yet on the DoB. There were 4 concrete plinths but only 3 of them had signs of holdfasts on them, each one of them being different

plinth 1
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plinth 2
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plinth 3
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plinth 4
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then on to the remains of coastal battery S0005918. There were 3 guns stationed here

gun emplacement 1
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Gun emplacement 2
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looking from emplacement 2 to 1
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Gun emplacement 3
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and finally from here we have pillbox S0010165 which is half burried in the sand on the beach. I didn't have much time to photograph this one as the tide was coming in and the water was only a foot or so from the front embrasure
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Well that's all from South Gare although I will be going back to find the spigot and the last type 23 but on the way home I took a wrong exit on a roundabout and whilst trying to find some where to turn round I found this type 23 pillbox S0010161

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God it was a tight squeeze getting through the doorway and there wasn't much room inside
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Well that's all folks was a busy day but I think it was worth it
Thanks for looking, hope I haven't bored you too much
Cheers Jon
When I was a young 8 or 9 year old in the fifties we used to play in all the old military buildings down at the South Gare. All the buildings were accessible to anyone and were all intact. The No 1 gun in your photo with the bricked up openings were where the ammunition was loaded in on chain driven racks down to the firing platform. Ther same racks also brought up the spent shells. On the other side of the road there were roads leading into several large underground buildings. Most of the internal walls were tiled in white. I`ll never understand why most of the buildings were demolished. Cheers, Colin Burns.
 

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