You know when you see something on Google Maps and think hmmmm that looks like some sort of old military installation so you drive 60 miles and find hexagonal pig pens... thankfully this turned out to be the former.
Doing some research when I got back it transpires that this is Bannerhill Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery (known as H25 - 1940 to 1944) installed to defend Coventry and a prisoner of war camp (1944 to 1946).
The four hexagonal semi submerged buildings are 3.7 inch anti aircraft gun emplacements, the gun type shown below.
They are in amazing condition and the gun mounting points in the centre are still clearly visible. Each hexagonal emplacement has storage bunkers for ammunition around the circumference and two enclosed bunker rooms with offset doors ramped downwards I assume to protect its occupants from shrapnel.
The command bunker laid out as below is located to the upper right of the site is also mint and considering there has been no restoration the current land owner has done a great job in keeping the site clear of rubbish, most of these I have seen before are full of water, overgrown or used for storing farm equipment.
There’s little evidence of the POW section of the camp now as they consisted of the more temporary hut type buildings but the big farm house which accommodated the officers is still standing strong at the end of the lane.
Just as I was leaving a pleasant local chap walking his dog filled me in on a bit of background. Apparently Bannerhill had over 100 service personal stationed there and the site was infamous as a trial location for mixed staffing with Auxiliary Service women being deployed and trained to spot, operate radar, measure aircraft height, predict shots and target whilst the male soldiers did the actual firing and reloading etc.
He also showed me an area of field further down the lane where the searchlight had been based.
No arty farty shots Im afraid, it was a 30 minute mad dash but very pleasent all the same
Cheers for looking
Doing some research when I got back it transpires that this is Bannerhill Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery (known as H25 - 1940 to 1944) installed to defend Coventry and a prisoner of war camp (1944 to 1946).
The four hexagonal semi submerged buildings are 3.7 inch anti aircraft gun emplacements, the gun type shown below.
They are in amazing condition and the gun mounting points in the centre are still clearly visible. Each hexagonal emplacement has storage bunkers for ammunition around the circumference and two enclosed bunker rooms with offset doors ramped downwards I assume to protect its occupants from shrapnel.
The command bunker laid out as below is located to the upper right of the site is also mint and considering there has been no restoration the current land owner has done a great job in keeping the site clear of rubbish, most of these I have seen before are full of water, overgrown or used for storing farm equipment.
There’s little evidence of the POW section of the camp now as they consisted of the more temporary hut type buildings but the big farm house which accommodated the officers is still standing strong at the end of the lane.
Just as I was leaving a pleasant local chap walking his dog filled me in on a bit of background. Apparently Bannerhill had over 100 service personal stationed there and the site was infamous as a trial location for mixed staffing with Auxiliary Service women being deployed and trained to spot, operate radar, measure aircraft height, predict shots and target whilst the male soldiers did the actual firing and reloading etc.
He also showed me an area of field further down the lane where the searchlight had been based.
No arty farty shots Im afraid, it was a 30 minute mad dash but very pleasent all the same
Cheers for looking
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