National Coastwatch Institution - Torbay Station “WATCH”
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National Coastwatch Institution - Torbay Station “WATCH” April 2017 www.torbaynci.org EDITORS NOTES Once again many thanks to all the watchkeepers who contributed to the Christmas edition of “Watch”, especially to Martin for his article on flying with the RAF. Annie for her article on her Northumberland travels and Brian B on his “tales of the sea”. Please keep the articles coming-- I have had a good response for this addition 1 STATION NEWS Welcome to our New Members Philip Kettle, John Martin Woodham **************** we also welcome back to the fold John Sambrook **************** Newly Qualified Watchkeepers Paul Galley, Roger Lean, Keith Hollings and John Davis NCI History Our Neighbour’s Froward Point NCI Froward Point The Watch Station stands on a headland, Inner Froward Point, immediately to the East of the mouth of the River Dart. It is 209 feet (63.7 metres) above sea level, and has an excellent field of view. It was originally the Observation Post for a WW2 Coastal Défense Battery. This derelict building has been completely refurbished, while retaining important original features, such as the steel shutters. There is more information on the site history page. 2 Froward Point Station The coastal area, buildings at Froward Point, and much adjacent farmland, are owned by the National Trust. The South West Coast Path runs through the site, and provides access to lovely scenery extending from the River Dart to Berry Head. One mile to the East, along the coast, is Coleton Fishacre, a beautiful house and garden, also owned by the National Trust. There is a car park at Brownstone, a quarter mile West of the entrance to Coleton Fishacre, and the lane constructed for access to the coastal defense battery leads directly from this to Froward Point. The distance is approximately three quarters of a mile. From the 209 foot height of the station, the horizon is 16.2 nautical miles distant. The arc of view extends from approximately due East around to due West, giving excellent coverage of the mouth of the River Dart and the whole of Start Bay. The station directly overlooks an area of hazards extending from a prominent rock named The Mewstone, an isolated submerged rock called The Bear's Tail to the Dancing Beggars off Stoke Fleming. 3 NCI Froward Point – Site History During 1940 the land at Froward Point was requisitioned from Brownstone Farm, and a coastal defence battery built. There were two ex naval 6 inch guns on pedestal mounts, and two searchlights. Control was provided from the Battery Observation Post (BOP) . 4 The topography of the site means that the layout is unusual. The land slopes very steeply from the level of the BOP, 209 feet above sea level, down to the shore line. So No.2 gun was some distance below the corresponding ammunition store, and linked by an inclined plane, with railtrack and small wagon. The two searchlights were mounted near the shoreline, and their housings have survived, as have the concrete bases for the gun mountings. There is some uncertainty about the fate of the guns after the end of the Second World War. They remained in place until 1951, and were then either taken to Plymouth to be sold for scrap or simply dumped in the sea! Mike would be very interested to hear from any divers who might like to mount an expedition to investigate! Among the buildings which still stand are the BOP and a store. The former is now the NCI Watch Station, and the latter houses the Visitor Centre and generator room. The BOP retains many original features, including the steel shutters which can be seen in the top photograph, taken before Coastwatch refurbished it! The site is now owned by the National Trust. Brownstone Battery History Brownstone Battery is a World War II coastal defence position, situated on the eastern side of the mouth of the river Dart estuary at Froward Point (Grid Ref: 902946). This area has commanding views across Start Bay, which helped in its defence role. The site consists of two gun positions, two searchlight positions and a variety of other buildings, including an observation post, generator room, ammunition store, general store and mess rooms, which can still be seen. Brixham Battery just a few miles north of Brownstone was built for a similar purpose and provided protection for the Torbay area with slightly smaller 4.7inch guns. This site on the outskirts of Brixham is owned by the local authority and maintained by local enthusiasts. Dartmouth Castle on the west side of the river had a battery of 4.7inch guns and there was an anti-aircraft gun site on Jawbones Hill behind the town. In addition on the Kingswear side there was a machine gun post at Kingswear Castle and a land based torpedo launching site below Kingswear Court. Dartmouth was bombed on more than one occasion and both the town and Phillips Shipyard suffered considerable damage with loss of life. Brownstone Battery was manned by approximately 230 soldiers of the 52nd Bedfordshire Yeomanry Regiment between 1940 and 1942, when they were moved to Fleetwood in Lancashire to form a field battery unit. This was due 5 to the arrival of American forces who took over large parts of the Dart and Start Bay area. From 1942 until the end of the war, the Home Guard operated the site under the auspices of the Royal Artillery, but there is little information available for this period. The Battery was finally decommissioned in 1956. The guns were still in place in 1951, as noted from aerial photographs. A caretaker lived on and looked after the site from the end of the war until the area was returned to the estate of Higher Brownstone in 1956 from whom it had been requisitioned. The caretaker and his family lived in one of the Nissan Huts and he later became a farm worker at Brownstone. The National Trust has owned the site since 1982 when it was bought as part of the Enterprise Neptune Campaign to protect unspoilt coastline. At the time of its construction, there was more tree cover with a large part of the area dominated by Monterey and Corsican pines planted in 1904. This no doubt aided concealment of the battery from enemy aircraft and from RAF aerial photographs taken in 1942 it is difficult to pick out the buildings. The severe storm of January 1990 blew down a large number of mature trees and therefore exposed the site. The Battery Observation Post This was manned by Signallers, Telephonists, Gun Control Officers and Clerks. Their role was to identify targets, measure bearing and range, calculate corrections to allow for the change in position of the target during the time of flight of the shell, and transmit the required settings to the gun crews. A concrete pillar inside originally held the Depression Range Finder (DRF) used to determine the bearing and range of targets. There is also a chart table inside which folded down from the wall. The steel shutters fold down, with glass windows behind, which could be opened. Vandalism over the years unfortunately destroyed much of what was left in this building It is now totally refurbished as a Watch Station for The National Coastwatch Institution 6 The original gun emplacement View from inside 7 Article by Peter Foston (Watch Keeper) PROVIDENT The Brixham Trawler Provident was one of the last sailing trawlers to be built, She was launched in 1924 from Sanders Yard at Galmpton on the River Dart. With an overall length of over 70 ft, beam of 18 ft and draught of 9 ft she displaced some 85 tons. Her sail area was approximately 2,500 square feet. Before the production of synthetic cloth ship’s sails were made of canvas. To protect them from rotting the they used to soak them in a mixture from Acacia trees called Cutch. After being hung up to dry they could then be safely stowed away. Not all sails were Cutch Tanned as this did tend to increase the weight and rigidity of the sails. For this reason the lighter jibs were left untanned. To sail her and carry out all the heavy work involved in "shooting" and "hauling" the trawl she was handled by a crew of only three men and a boy. By the late the twenties the days of the sailing trawlers were coming to an end and in 1933 Provident was sold to a wealthy American and converted into a yacht. Subsequently she has become a sail training ship and is now based in Brixham and we see her from time to time. The painting shows Provident in Start Bay, hove to with her jib backed, the trawl has been recovered and the beam is on board. The cod end of the trawl is well filled with fish, hoisted on a fish tackle rigged from the main mast. When the cod line at the bottom is released the catch will fall in a mass on deck for stowing below. Peter has been commissioned from BRNC to paint all the ships that have been used for officer training in connection with the college (some sixty plus!). Editor 8 Peter’s second article I think the following might amuse. My research is turning up some fascinating things. Between the wars their Lordships decided to turn the Monitor Erebus into one. Finding there was insufficient accommodation what did they do but build a two storey detached residence complete with pitched roof on the foredeck. Then they decided this was not suitable for going to sea.