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Kingston, Innes Links; Anti-invasion Beach Defences
Anti Tank Blocks (Second World War)
Site Name Kingston, Innes Links; Anti-invasion Beach Defences
Classification Anti Tank Blocks (Second World War)
Alternative Name(s) Spey Bay
Canmore ID 81607
Site Number NJ36NW 5
NGR NJ 3150 6642
NGR Description NJ 3317 6583 to NJ 3000 6706
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/81607
- Council Moray
- Parish Urquhart
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Moray
- Former County Morayshire
NJ36NW 5.00 3317 6583 to 3000 6706
For westward extension of coast defences see NJ26NE 14.00 and for coast battery see NJ26NE 30.00
NJ36NW 5.01 NJ 3317 6584 Pillbox; Anti-Tank Blocks
NJ36NW 5.02 NJ 32747 65969 Pillbox
NJ36NW 5.03 NJ 32377 66084 Pillbox; Anti-Tank Blocks
NJ36NW 5.04 NJ 32057 66225 Pillbox
NJ36NW 5.05 NJ 31687 66334 Pillbox
NJ36NW 5.06 NJ 31345 66429 Pillbox
NJ36NW 5.07 NJ 30978 66613 Pillbox
NJ36NW 5.08 NJ 30739 66721 Pillbox
NJ36NW 5.09 NJ 30370 66860 Pillbox
NJ36NW 5.10 NJ 30036 67043 Pillbox; Anti-Tank Blocks
NJ36NW 5.11 NJ 3148 6633 to NJ 3132 6579 Firing Range (new)
NJ36NW 5.12 NJ 32841 65892 Firing Range (old)
NJ36NW 5.13 c.NJ 3374 6562 Pillbox
NJ36NW 5.14 c.NJ 3367 6564 Pillbox
NJ36NW 5.15 c.NJ 3358 6570 Pillbox
NJ36NW 5.16 c.NJ 3326 6578 Pillbox
Anti-tank blocks running along the shore with integral pillboxes. (Extends onto sheet see NJ26NE 14.00).
J Guy 1992; NMRS MS 810/1 1992.
Grampian Regional Council note the following:
GRC NJ36NW 6 3285 6590 Rifle range butts. Elongated N-facing mound of earth and sand with target supports on foreshore; many spent bullets are to be found in the mound.
GRC NJ36NW 7 3275 6597 Pillbox and anti-tank blocks. Complete line of anti-tank blocks along shore with integral pill boxes. This one measures about 14 ft long by 6 ft wide and just covers the outside of the blocks. Designed for one door with blast wall; three loopholes designed for machine guns.
GRC NJ36NW 8 3237 6609 Pillbox and anti-tank blocks. Complete line of anti-tank blocks along shore with integral pill boxes of two types. This one is of the larger type, covering both sides of the blocks, and is designed for machine guns with five large and two small loopholes.
Visited by J Guy, 2 December 1992.
NMRS, MS/712/9.
Air photographs: AAS/97/12/CT.
NMRS, MS/712/29.
Post-war RAF vertical air photographs (106G/UK 750, 5001-17, flown 31 August 1945) show the complete defence line between Kingston and the River Lossie. Visible is a single line of anti-tank blocks with the integral pillboxes at each change in direction of the blocks. The OS 1:10000 scale maps and (1974 and 1975) also depict the line of blocks and the pillboxes. The single line of anti-tank blocks is continuous to NT 2740 6826 (on NT26NE). All pillboxes visible on the 1945 air photographs have been recorded, but some may not have survived to the present day.
This section forms the right sector (Kingston to the River Lossie), part of the anti-invasion beach defences of Moray which ran from Cullen Bay to Burghead Bay. The defences include pillboxes, infantry observation posts, artillery observation posts, Home Guard observation posts, Home Guard Defended localities, keeps, wire obstacles, aircraft immobilisation poles, tubular scaffolding and two sections of airfield perimeter defences which included the light and heavy anti-aircaft batteries possibly providing a secondary beach defence role. (Lossiemouth and Kinloss).
Information from RCAHMS (DE), November 2002
A visit to the anti-invasion defences in February 2008 noted that the line of blocks remained almost complete along with the assocated pillboxes and blockhouses and emergency coast battery (NJ26NE 30.00). Nearly all of the line of blocks have been constructed using the shuttered concrete technique and most retain their metal lifting loops. The pillboxes are nearly all type 24 with alternate small rectangular' blockhouses' the whole length of the beach. Only one pillbox woud appear to have suffered from under-cutting by the sea, that at NJ 28406 67905 (NJ26NE 14.05), the structure now leans to one side. The erosion has ocurred since 1992 when Mr J Guy visited the site.
In addition, several of the anti-landing trenches or ditches were noted running across the links behind the beach. They survive as a series of elongated pits many filled with water or beach pebbles running at right angles to the line of anti-tanks blocks. The anti-tank blocks and pillboxes now stop about 1300m W of Kingston,and it is not known whether the WW III remains including further pillboxes survive under the shingle and pebble deposition.
These ditches and trenches are visible on RAF WW II vertical air photographs (241cE1-E2and B1 to B10, flown 13 March 1941). Examination of World War II vertical air photographs show that the section between Kingston and the now demolished 3rd pillbox to the W (NJ36NW 5.15), was a double line of anti-tank blocks, whilst the rest of the line of blocks to the W was single.
Visited by RCAHMS (DE, NG), 27 February 2008.
Publication Account (2009)
The website text produced for Lossie World War II defences webpages on the Forest Heritage Scotland website (www.forestheritagescotland.com).
Introduction: Defending the coast
During World War II, the construction of a line of defences along the Moray coastline aimed to slow down a possible German invasion. Today, in Lossie Forest, you can explore the remains of these defences.
In 1940, Britain was under threat of German invasion]. As a result, a plan was put into action to defend any coastline where the enemy could easily land.
The Moray coastal defences ran between Cullen Bay and Findhorn Bay, through today's Lossie and Roseisle Forests].
Within Lossie Forest, you will discover evidence of the variety of defences constructed. Firstly, there are the concrete foundations of a military camp. This is where the soldiers who constructed and manned the defences lived.
Concrete anti-tank blocks ran the full length of the defences. They are no longer complete but long sections of the line are still visible on the edge of the forest.
Pillboxes were another part of the defences. Two alternating designs, square and hexagonal shaped, zigzagged a line along the coastline. Over twenty of these still remain at Lossie.
On the edge of the forest, you will discover the ruins of a Coastal Battery, consisting of a number of structures. The long range guns stationed at the battery protected Lossiemouth port from attack by sea.
Discover how the coastal battery operated in our "People" story.
People Story: Running a coastal battery
Now derelict, the coastal battery at Lossie Forest defended Lossiemouth harbour from German attack during World War II.
In June 1940, a Polish Army Engineer Corps constructed some of these defences. Wieslaw Szczygiel, a Polish soldier in that unit, recalls briefly working on them before moving to a unit at Tentsmuir.
The 227th battery of the 501 Coastal Regiment manned the coastal station once it was completed on the 28th of May 1941.
At the front of the battery were two gun emplacements, armed with large 6 inch Mark 11 guns. These were old World War I guns removed from naval ships and stored until needed. They were powerful and could fire long distances, excellent for keeping enemy ships at bay.
Behind the gun emplacements, there were a series of other buildings. Two machine gun emplacements would provide firepower to defend the beach if enemy troops landed.
A vital building was the Battery Observation Post (BOP). As command control, this was where the calculations for aiming and firing the big guns were made. Later, radar was introduced to help detect the enemy's approach.
Two searchlight stations provided light to see an enemy attack at night.
To prevent detection from enemy planes the buildings were painted and hidden with web netting. Today this camouflage is no longer evident.
In April 1945, the battery went out of operation followed by the removal of the guns two months later.
Evidence Story: Using laser technology to interpret the past
In 2009, AOC Archaeology undertook a survey of the World War II remains in Lossie Forest. This record will help Forestry Commission Scotland manage the site. It also provides new opportunities for presenting the site to the public.
A key element of this survey was the recording of the western gun emplacement of the coastal battery, located on the beach.
AOC Archaeology used a laser scanner to record the structure and create a detailed 3-dimensional digital reconstruction of the building. You can view the results as an animation - the powerful laser scanner has even picked up the modern graffiti.
This technique is a relatively new way of recording archaeological remains and historic buildings. The laser scanner shoots laser rays at different points inside and outside the building. It records the distance from the scanner to each point. This information is collected as digital data points, called point-clouds.
Using the point-clouds, the building's shape is accurately recreated, as you can see in our animation. This information also created 2-dimensional plans and elevations of the building, similar to architectural plans.
This digital information forms the basis for a series of reconstruction paintings of how the gun emplacement looked in World War II. The artist, Drew Smith, selected his view point and accurately scaled his drawings.
Flick through the images and see the artistic process of converting the digital information into a final, watercolour reconstruction of the gun emplacements.
