Hello my name is Fearne and I thought I would share with you lovely people one of my favourite walkies at Blyth beach. This is one of my regular routes and I love playing on the beach and walking along the promenade. For many years now I walk past these big square ugly buildings and often wonder what on earth they are and what they were used for? Well I did a little research, with mammy’s help and found out so here is my story.
The town of Blyth is famous for their port and harbour. In 1858 the Harbour Act permitted dredging to begin allowing larger ships to use the port. As this was a deep water port it made for an ideal submarine base. The port of Blyth and it’s submarine base were targets for the enemy during both world wars and therefore in the early twentieth century Blyth Battery was set up. “Awww so that’s what these large buildings are, part of the Blyth Battery, but why so many and what were they used for”?
This building is a WW1 observation post. It housed the Battery Commander and his signallers who passed his orders onto the whole Battery. Notice the armoured revolving turret on top. Beneath this revolving turret was the Battery’s rangefinder, used for setting the direction and angle of the guns to increase their accuracy.
Changing technology meant that the WW1 observation post was replaced by this new post in 1940, containing more advanced rangefinders mounted on the first floor. The ground floor again housed a command post and signallers. During the Second World War, orders to batteries at Berwick, Amble and Druridge may also have been issued from here.