T H E   D E R E L I C T   M I S C E L L A N Y

Unlike their Second World War predecessors at other sites, the four octagonal 3.7" gun emplacements here are open on two sides and have just four ammunition lockers each (WWII emplacements had six). Two reinforced rooms adjoin the walls on the outside of each emplacement; a small crew shelter and an engine room with a hydraulic pump to train the guns and power the automatic loading mechanisms.
The layout is also slightly different to Second World War sites with the four emplacements laid out in a shallow arc. If there were ever associated structures such as magazines and a command post, they have been cleared away, probably lost under the National Air Traffic Services wireless station now standing to the north. It's possible that these facilities were housed in Nissen huts and so fared less well than the gunpits themselves. The site was connected by telephone line to the AAOR and a GPO telephone termination point is still visible located in a wire-fenced compound to the eastern end of the concrete hardstanding. The site was probably abandoned c.1960 when Pendell also became redundant (later to become the the Metropolitan Police's southern war HQ) but for reasons of national security did not appear on any OS maps until the mid '60s.

Since this article was first published, it has been brought to my attention that the site is regularly used for shooting and target practice. It is therefore potentially dangerous and must not be visited without permission.