Forth Defences,inner, Downing Point Battery

Permission was given in September 1914 for the construction of a battery of two 4.7-inch guns at Downing Point, with a budget of £450. Two guns, which had been mounted at Kinghorn for 'drill and practice' were moved to Downing Point in October. A map of 1915 shows the layout of the battery. The main part of the battery occupied a very compact site only about 100m by 110m within which were the two guns (with firing arcs from ENE to SSW) and, to the north, the barracks and other accommodation for the officers and men, as well as an engine room for the Defence Electric Lights (see below) a magazine and an ammunition store.

It was important to ensure that coast defence batteries were not put out of action by enemy troops landing and attacking them from the landward side. The Downing Point battery was surrounded by a plain wire fence but also by a barbed wire entanglement that ran out onto the beach along the northern side. There were also four blockhouses within the perimeter.

A long finger of rock runs eastward from the main battery area and on this were built two Defence Electric Lights - powerful searchlights to illuminate targets for the guns at night. One DEL was of the kind where the light could be moved to follow a target; the other produced a fixed beam, lighting an area on which the guns were already pre-targetted. The DEL emplacements were at NT 15939 82455 (fixed beam) and NT 15960 82459.

The battery was defended by an outer line of six blockhouses between 250 and 400m from the battery. Drawings on a War Department file (The National Archives 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.

When the defences of the Forth were re-worked the two 4.7-inch guns were sent to Inchcolm, while two 12-pdrs from Inchcolm were moved to Downing Point, in June and July 1917.

Most of the battery has escaped the construction of the town of Dalgety Bay and the gun emplacements are still visible.

Information from HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project (GJB) 23 August 2013.

NT18SE 24.00 15765 82463

NT18SE 24.01 Centred on NT 15384 82654 Pillboxes (Blockhouses)

Armed October 1914; 2 x 4.7" guns. Disarmed 1916. Site disposed of, 1921.

N H Clark 1986.

A First World War battery situated just W of Downing Point. There are two gun emplacements with a further gun position and officers post in-between. Two 4.7-inch guns were installed in October 1914 after removal from Kinghorn battery (NT28NE 47), these were then re-positioned in 1917 on Inchcolm Battery (NT18SE 22.04). In addition, two 12-pounder 18cwt guns were installed in July 1917 from Inchcolm.

J Guy 1994; NMRS MS 810/3

Two concrete gun-emplacements (NT 15757 82461 and NT 125774 82464)and a linking platform with gun officers position, are situated on a slight rise about 200m W of Downing Point. Both gun-emplacements with low parapets to the S, retain holdfasts, the circle of bolts is still visible in the centre. The gun officers position is set centrally between the emplacements and slightly to the rear.

Little else could be seen at this location in dense undergrowth.

Visited by RCAHMS (DE), October 2003

Site recorded by Maritime Fife during the Coastal Assessment Survey for Historic Scotland, Kincardine to Fife Ness 1996

NT18SE24 NT 15765 82463

NT18SE24.01 NT 15384 82654 Blockhouses

NT18SE24.02 NT 15757 82461 Gun Emplacement

NT18SE24.03 NT 15774 82473 Magazine

NT18SE24.04 NT 15806 82486 Engine House

NT18SE24.05 NT 15820 82472 Ablution Blocks

NT18SE24.06 NT 15943 82457 Searchlight Battery

NT18SE24.07 NT 15872 82432 Pier

NT18SE24.08 NT 15813 82508 Ablutions Blocks

NT18SE24.09 NT 15789 82510 Building

NT18SE24.10 NT 15786 82499 Barracks

NT18SE24.11 NT 15769 82513 Barracks

NT18SE24.12 NT 15765 82503 Barracks

NT18SE24.13 NT 15763 82490 Office

NT18SE24.14 NT 15756 82482 Storehouses

NT18SE24.15 NT 15743 82521 Building

NT18SE24.16 NT 15760 82545 Ablutions Block

NT18SE24.17 NT 15795 82477 Water Tank (possible)

NT18SE24.18 NT 15734 82457 Fences

NT18SE24.20 NT 15751 82509 Defense Obstruction, Trench

NT18SE24.21 NT 15816 82488 Defense Obstruction

NT18SE24.22 NT 15770 82473 Buildings

NT18SE24.23 NT 15807 82488 Barracks

NT18SE24.24 NT 15822 82478 Ablutions Block