St Margarets 5.5" Gun Battery (Z Rocket) 2010

[silverainbow]

Visited with Wevsky and Superwide, my 1st underground explore experience, thoroughly enjoyed, bit of history on the site,

Situated on the cliffs above St. Margaret's Bay is the site of a four gun, 5.5" battery that was one of the earliest of the protective emplacements that were rapidly established along this vulnerable area of the Kent coastline during the early years of the Second World War, these guns had been removed from the secondary armament of HMS Hood in the period 1935 - 1940. In the case of St. Margaret's Battery, the guns involved were all manufactured by the Coventry Ordnance Works. Manned by 411 Battery, part of 540 Coast Defence Regiment, the limited range of these weapons (less than 18,000 yards) meant that it rapidly became 'redundant' as a Coast Defence battery as the more powerful and flexible 6" weapons at Fan Hole Battery were commissioned. This led to the site becoming a training battery, until eventually the idea was hit on of establishing a 'flashing battery' here. Because of its exposed location near the edge of the cliff, any gun flash from here was fully visible from the occupied French coastline - this meant that when an enemy convoy was sited the 'flashing battery' could pretend to open fire using special charges, thus causing the ships to change course away from the expected danger and into the range of the (hidden behind reverse slopes) big guns at South Foreland and Wanstone.

(History borrowed with kind permission of Kent Hstory Forum)

And on with my pics, not the best in the world owing to my Point n shoot camera but now Im getting into this I think Im gonna go invest in a "real" camera !

1st A pic of the site as it was "Back in the day"

Looking back at the entrance and the hole of death

And a few of the interior

And last but not least a bit of original grafitti

My Thanks for taking the time to view my pics and hopefully they will improve in the Future

 

[Wevsky]

Ello Mate thx for a good morning out ..if yu dont mind ill add a few of mine

was good to meet superwide hes a class geezer

Hole of death from a distance

Good day was had did a lower /upper oil mills visit and esplanades at st mags good day out cheers guys

 

[silverainbow]

My thanks to you both for a class day out !, Nice to meet you Superwide hope to do a few more explores with you both in the future

:cool2:

 

[Wevsky]

was cold mate even the stones on the bay where frozen together..good trip out tho

 

[Wevsky]

Very nice photos from both of you! Silverrainbow, weve all been there dude, your photos will be much better in no time! you've still made a good effort!Frosty.

was cold and seriously frozen at st mags esplanade tunnel the stones on the beach where frozen ..so id done me usual way down like i did when we went id of broken somthing..hear me roar lol

 

[silverainbow]

Cheers Frosty, Gonna go do a few more next week all being well on the weather front !

 

[Wevsky]

Hahaha, your gonna break something if you keep jumping off things that are that high!Wicked silverrainbow, what you gonna do? get all the deep shelters under your belt then you'll be be pro in dover!

Frosty.

me frosty i have super human bones..well u saw me jump i flew like an eagle. u was there that nite i found a five pound note wasnt you??..yes u was i shared your crinkle cut crisps lol

 

[silverainbow]

Love Dover theres so much to do, although the "High one" eludes me some what, gonna have to gain some "Rope Skills" LOL

:lol:

 

[superwide]

was good to meet you both, nice to have a quick trip out as well. done well with your pics considering the camera. mine are still sitting on the sd card lol

 

[silverainbow]

Thank you Superwide :beer: , I can get occasional good results with it but it does have its limitations, just compare Wevskys pics with mine, better clarity and far superior depth of field, Ill go get myself a tripod 1st and then experiment with the different shutter times and see how it goes from there, I have plenty left to go explore, and plenty of time on my hands right now (Providing snow clears up & I can actually get out lol).

 

[Wevsky]

Thank you Superwide :beer: , I can get occasional good results with it but it does have its limitations, just compare Wevskys pics with mine, better clarity and far superior depth of field, Ill go get myself a tripod 1st and then experiment with the different shutter times and see how it goes from there, I have plenty left to go explore, and plenty of time on my hands right now (Providing snow clears up & I can actually get out lol).

snow doesnt stop us mate we are hardcore..and my pics could allways be better