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Forth Defences, Inner, Downing Point Battery
Blockhouse(S) (First World War)
Site Name Forth Defences, Inner, Downing Point Battery
Classification Blockhouse(S) (First World War)
Canmore ID 332186
Site Number NT18SE 24.01
NGR NT 15384 82654
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/332186
- Council Fife
- Parish Dalgety
- Former Region Fife
- Former District Dunfermline
- Former County Fife
The battery was defended by an outer line of six blockhouses (or pillboxes) between 250 and 400m from the battery. Drawings on a War Department file (The National Archive WO 78/4396) show plans and cross-sections of the blockhouses - they were built of wood with pitched wood and felt roofs; there were bunks and a stove for the 10 men who lived in each. The blockhouses were made bulletproof by the erection of walls made of sandbags around the walls, about a metre away from the wooden walls.
Location of blockhouses (pillboxes) are
NT 15372 82409, NT 15316 82508, NT 15384 82654, NT 15590 82831, NT 15775 82794 and NT15898 82828.
Information from HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project (GJB) 23 August 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.
Field Visit (6 December 2023)
Nothing is now visible of four timber blockhouses that were situated at carefully chosen locations around the periphery of the Downing Point Battery (NT 15732 82474; NT 15795 82446; NT 15811 82516; NT 15795 82531). Two lay close to the entrance to the camp on the NW, one at the W end of the crag and another close to the S edge of the cliff about 17m SE of the NE gun platform (NT18SE 24.2).
They are all shown on Barclay and Morris’ plan of the battery (Barclay and Morris 2019, 103 fig. 9.32; 105) based upon maps dating from 1915-16 (WO 78/5165; WO 78/4396) held by the National Archives at Kew. Barclay and Morris also reproduce a plan of an example (Barclay and Morris 2019, 104 fig 9.34; 104-5), which indicates that each measured 5m square and was provided with a sloping roof, a vent and a chimney, while their walls were closely protected by sandbags. The maps also show that another six block houses (NT 15368 82414; NT 15307 82520; NT 15376 82672; NT 15580 82854; NT 15769 82811; NT 15894 82843) were situated between 270m and 410m from the entanglement (NT18SE 24.18) surrounding the battery. The 1916 map (WO 78/4396) also shows the field of fire covered by the ten blockhouses.
Visited by HES Archaeological Survey (A T Welfare), 6 December 2023
