Any ideas what these are??

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Scruffyone

Veteran Member
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Oct 25, 2008
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Location
Gowerton, Swansea
Hi there, This is my first set of pics posted here, and i would appreciate any clues as to what these buildings are. I'm also just getting into photography and i'd be grateful for any comments (apart from 'give up photography:lol:). Anyway, Here they are.

This is the first of the two buildings, and had this metalwork inside....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16732617@N02/3138409759

This wall faced out to sea
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16732617@N02/3138409753

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16732617@N02/3138409741

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16732617@N02/3138423763

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16732617@N02/3138409731

The other structure was much the same, although no metalwork inside. the outside seemed in slightly better condition. maybe because it was harder to get to.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16732617@N02/3138423769

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16732617@N02/3138423771

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16732617@N02/3138423789

Alas poor flossie....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16732617@N02/3138423793

Cheers for looking. Hope the pics come out......
 
Looks like it might have been a rifle range, although your pictures are taken in a way that inhibits an objective overview. Your 5th picture shows what looks like that may have been the mechanism for the targets. Still very difficult to tell. From some angles it looks like a firing butt, from otheres a large strafing shelter. Krela is the man with stuff like this, though. I expect he will have the answer:)
 
Where these things are situated, the marsh floods every high tide. There were some kind of defences built during WWII, if you zoom out on the flash earth link then you can see anti tank blocks over to the west. so maybe its something like that... Hmmm, come on throw me a frickin bone here.:lol: also further east there is an old observation tower, because the area was used a lot for bombing practice. I may have just answered my own question there, but i would love an 'authoritative' answer.
 
looks like a target set up of some sort,picture 5 reminds me of the old covered way that runs from sheerness to
Scrapsgate on the isle of Sheppey that was built too protect passers by from the butts.It runs for half a mile or so and as a callow youth and being a flash git I used to cycle on the top of it.It actually finished up quite close to the old Warners holiday camp {Minster}
]
 
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3294/3138409731_8ffa77090c.jpg?v=0[img/]

Yeah its defiantly a firing range. The picture above with the metal work is a mechanism they used to raise the targets up and down, its known as the butts.
 
It is a ww2 era firing range yes, marsh land is a common venue for them as there is the required overshoot and the land is little used for anything else (although for some reason I'm thinking this particular marsh is special, but I can't for the life of me remember why).

There were also anti tank defences about 400yds to the east going across the estuary to stop enemy landing craft, An anti-tank ditch (now mostly gone under silt) and a long row of anti-tank cubes. I remember seeing them the last time I went to Llangennith. This was the southern end of a bigger stopline going north towards Aberystwyth.

There's quite a bit of WW2 stuff on the gower and the mumbles, most of it is difficult to discern though.
 
It is a ww2 era firing range yes, marsh land is a common venue for them as there is the required overshoot and the land is little used for anything else (although for some reason I'm thinking this particular marsh is special, but I can't for the life of me remember why).

There were also anti tank defences about 400yds to the east going across the estuary to stop enemy landing craft, An anti-tank ditch (now mostly gone under silt) and a long row of anti-tank cubes. I remember seeing them the last time I went to Llangennith. This was the southern end of a bigger stopline going north towards Aberystwyth.

There's quite a bit of WW2 stuff on the gower and the mumbles, most of it is difficult to discern though.

Bryag said:
Krela is the man with stuff like this, though. I expect he will have the answer.

Told ya!:mrgreen:
 
Thanks for the info. As it goes, I have never seen anyone out there, so I figured I would go and have a look. Glad I did now. Thanks for all the responses, and not one 'give up photography you idiot'. I think my next one will be a full report of RAF Fairwood, as Baal has been to one site, but there is quite a bit more dotted around the area.

Cheers peeps
 
There used to be a lot of shelter type buildings on the Langrove motel side of fairwood (in the woods) don't know how many are left now though.
Nice pics of the butts at Penclawd Wayne
 
I'm going to be awkward here and play devil's advocate. I think it might be a "Q" site, to draw German bombers away from real targets.
 

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