Tyne and Wear HER(966): South Shields, Park Battery - Details
966
S Tyneside
South Shields, Park Battery
South Shields
NZ36NE
Defence
Battery
Coastal Battery
Modern
C20
Documentary Evidence
In May 1940 Devon Battery, Royal Marines, arrived with two 6-inch Mk XII/VII guns. In March 1941 they were replaced by 348 Coast Battery, with two 6-inch Mk XI/VI guns from Frenchman's Battery to the south. For a time in 1941-3 the guns were removed, and only a searchlight remained, while a new battery was constructed, and in 1943 three 5.25-inch Anti-Aircraft/coast defence guns were installed. When the Coast Defence role ceased in 1951 the battery was handed over to AA Command and finally, in 1956, the battery was dismantled, and the site landscaped by South Shields Corporation. The site has recently been assessed by the Defence of Britain Project: it is in a very bad condition, but gun emplacements and layout were visible as parch marks on aerial photographs of 1994.
368
678
NZ368678
<< HER 966 >> D.H. Clarke & A. Rudd, 1989, The Defences of Tyneside, Park Battery, South Shields, Fortress Study Group Conference, p. 10
Defence of Britain Project, 2002, Defence of Britain Database, S0015123
D. Clarke & A. Rudd, 1989 Tyneside in the Breech Loading Era Fortress, No. 3, pp 33-42; English Heritage Hadrian's Wall WHS Mapping Project, 2008, 1399283; Aerial Photograph RAF 58/B/32 5422 16-MAY-1948