Clyde Defences, Portkil Battery, 6-inch Gun Emplacements

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.

The two 6-inch gun emplacements at Portkil are situated 17.5m apart on a natural SW-facing terrace some 280m from the beach. They are set some 40m back from the steep cliff that defines the face of the terrace and they are approached from the SE by a public road (Fort Road). The two emplacements are similar, each having been provided with a concrete glacis to the front (SW) and both with gun-pits in which the holdfasts for the guns are overgrown and partly filled with rubble and earth. There is a concrete gun platform around both gun-pits, which are accessed by steps at the rear; two metal plates cover two entrance passages into each gun-pit. On the exterior wall below the gun platform there are ready ammunition lockers and fixings for metal doors and for the handrails of the gun platform. Leading off from the emplacements are walls containing more ready ammunition or cartridge lockers. A metal door of a cartridge lift can be seen on both emplacements. Recent work to create car parking adjacent to the SE gun emplacement has resulted in the removal of a section of original floor. On the rear wall of each emplacement and on the road surface is evidence of the laying down shelter (The National Archives WO78/5184).

Situated between the emplacements is a small telephone room and the raised battery observation post containing its rangefinder pillar. This was accessed via a metal staircase which overhung the courtyard below but has been removed. The rooms occupying the long space underneath the emplacements was accessed from the sunken white glazed brick lined courtyard immediately to the NE and comprised a shell store and a magazine/cartridge store. The shell store, which ran the entire length of the NE side of this level was entered via double doors from the courtyard from where light was provided through six broad sash and case windows. The store has brick-lined walls and an arched ceiling, and there are bricked-up shell hoists at either end. The magazine/cartridge store ran parallel to the shell store, separated by a thick wall with four narrow windows containing thick glass to prevent sparks reaching the explosive cartridges. Between the shell store and the magazine was a ‘shifting lobby’ where men would be required to rid themselves of any potentially hazardous equipment, items or clothing before proceeding into the brick arched magazine. There was a hatch at both ends of the magazine, through which cartridges could be fed towards hoists situated in the shell store, one below each gun emplacement.

On the NE side of the sunken courtyard is a crew shelter which comprises a large brick-lined room with steel joists supporting a brick-built arched roof. The remains of wooden block flooring and two stove bases are present as is evidence for ventilation in both the roof and floor. Other evidence for the actual occupation and use of the building takes the form of fixtures such as coat hooks attached to the brick walls. At the SE end of the courtyard there is a room that was used as an RA store; a smaller room at the NW end was a lamp room.

Visited by HES Survey and Recording (AM, HS, AKK) 17 May 2016.

HES surveyed the cartridge lift of the 6-inch gun emplacement, Portkil battery on 18 May 2016 at a scale of 1:5. The resultant plan and section were redrawn in vector graphics software at a scale of 1:20.

HES surveyed Portkil battery 6-inch gun emplacement on 16 May 2016 at a scale of 1:100. The resultant ground plan and upper floor plan were redrawn in vector graphics software at a scale of 1:200.

HES surveyed Portkil Battery 6-inch gun emplacement magazine stores between 16-18 May 2016 at a scale of 1:100. The resultant plan and section were redrawn in vector graphics software at a scale of 1:200.