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Clyde Defences, Fort Matilda, South Western Land Defences
Machine Gun Post(S) (First World War), Trench(S) (First World War)
Site Name Clyde Defences, Fort Matilda, South Western Land Defences
Classification Machine Gun Post(S) (First World War), Trench(S) (First World War)
Canmore ID 331593
Site Number NS27NE 40.03
NGR NS 2539 7722
NGR Description NS 2526 7712, NS 2539 7722 and NS 2541 7737
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/331593
- Council Inverclyde
- Parish Greenock
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Inverclyde
- Former County Renfrewshire
The south-western defences of Fort Matilda are shown on a War Office map of Fort Matilda and its defences, dated 1916 (The National Archives WO 78/4396). The south-western approach (west of the key Lyle Hill defences) comprises three groups of trenches and machine gun pits between the railway and Lyle Road, in an area now occupied by housing. The three complexes are centred at NS 2526 7712, NS 2539 7722 and NS 2541 7737.
Information from HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project (GJB) 1 July 2013.
Project (March 2013 - September 2013)
A project to characterise the quantity and quality of the Scottish resource of known surviving remains of the First World War. Carried out in partnership between Historic Scotland and RCAHMS.
Desk Based Assessment (15 March 2017)
Nothing is now visible in an area occupied by housing of the south-western defences of Fort Matilda. As depicted on a 1916 War Office map of Fort Matilda and its defences (The National Archives: WO 78/4396), the defences comprised three elements described here from NE to SW.
The NE element (NS 25390 77224) comprised an arc of trench, crenellated on plan, which faced SSW and backed on to a stone wall. It measured about 80m from NW to SE across the rear. Extending out from the front of the trench was a further, short, length of trench with a machine-gun pit at its SSW end.
The middle element (NS 25278 77167) lay between the E side of a disused quarry, where there was a machine-gun pit, and a stone wall some 65m to the E, where there was a dug-out shelter. Between them lay an irregular enclosure defined on all sides by a trench that was crenellated on the SW.
The SW element (NS 25220 77093) was situated approximately 50m S of the aforementioned disused quarry and comprised two parts, a western (NS 25204 77103) which contained a length of crenellated trench with a machine-gun pit attached to its NE side, and an eastern (NS 25256 77093) which comprised a short length of N to S orientated trench with a dug-out shelter and a traverse immediately to its E.
Information from HES, Survey and Recording (JRS) 15 March 2017.
