World War One Audit of Surviving Remains
Date 14 August 2013
Event ID 963282
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type World War One Audit of Surviving Remains
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/963282
The battery at Leith docks was positioned at the southern end of the Outer Defences of the Firth of Forth in the First World War. The battery was situated at the corner of the sea wall close to the Imperial Dock (as it was then - the land area has since been extended into the sea). It was built in 1916-17 and comprised two emplacements for 6-inch Breech Loading guns with, to the west, a combined Battery Command Post and station for the Electric Light Director, a building with three storeys, and to the south, a blockhouse. The guns were moved here from Hound Point, further up-river. The Defence Electric Lights - powerful searchlights intended to illuminate targets for the guns at night - were situated further to the west along the seawall, at NT 27367 77336 and NT 27160 77471. The engine house to power the lights was built between the lights and a little inland, at NT 27267 77375. The battery’s guns and lights were recorded in the definitive survey of the Forth’s defences dated October 1916, on War Office file (The National Archives WO 78/ 5179). They covered the channel between Leith and the island of Inchkeith, which was obstructed by a submarine net. The battery was provided with two machine-guns for close defence. The accommodation for the men was built in a small compound to the south, at NT 27607 77009, shown a map in War Office file (The National Archives WO 78/4396).
The battery continued in use through the Second World War and was demolished in the 1950s. An undated map of the Leith Battery on the Fort Record Book for the Coastguard Battery at North Queensferry [WO 192/104] shows the Leith Battery, its DELs and accommodation at the DEL engine house - this may date from the Second World War period.
Information from HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project (GJB) 13 August 2013.
