The final part of the walk by Fearne the dog from Blyth!

These 1916 gun emplacements housed twin 6-inch guns to protect this vital location in both world wars, defending against coastal bombardment and beach invasion. After WW2 the guns were removed and filled in and adapted to form amenity shelters along the prom with seats under the canopies for visitors to use. 

These are photographs of two replica Mk V11 6 inch naval guns.  They were manufactured by M Fairington Engineers. A donation from Blyth Rotary Club helped with the installation and on 6 April 2019 they were unveiled by Col. Benjamin Speke Deputy Lieutenant of Northumberland. 

This 1916 shelter below was occupied by gun crews on duty and waiting for action at times when the Battery was at a high state of readiness.  The building had separate parts for the men, the officers and the Battery. Today this building is used as a small café and is run by a group of volunteers for the Blyth Battery. 

The 1916 building pictured below stored the shells and cartridges and was built beneath the sand dunes.  It has a reinforced roof with a protective blast void. The ready use stores up at the Gun Emplacements were replenished by moving ammunition from this reserve on trolleys, keeping the guns ready for fighting action at all times of the day and night. Today this building is a great museum, again ran by volunteers of the Blyth Battery. 

Well that just about ends my story and hope you enjoyed reading about these fascinating buildings. At present the Blyth Battery Museum is currently closed due to the Coronavirus , however when re-opened is well worth a visit.  

The dog from Blyth continues her walk…..

This WW1 building housed an electric searchlight at the seaward side with the duty crew quarters to the rear.  The light was protected by sliding the steel shutters which were drawn back to expose the searchlight in times of threat.  The crew could use the gun loopholes on all sides of each building.

This plaque is to commemorate the Skylighters Searchlight site TT114.  It is dedicated to the 827 men and officers of the 225th Anti-aircraft Artillery Searchlight Battalion of the US Army who were deployed over Blyth and Tyneside in March 1944 in the defence of Great Britain under operational control of the 30th British AAA Brigade. 

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.