Site of Second World War ‘Diver’ Site No. K7, The Naze, Walton-on-the-Naze (EHER 21364)

Site of a Second World War heavy anti aircraft (Diver) battery in the Diver Strip at Walton Hall Marshes. It was armed with four 3.7-inch Mark IIc guns equipped with Predictor BTL, and Radar AA No.3 Mark V when it was deployed here on 24th November 1944, and was manned by 182 Battery of 136 Anti Aircraft Artillery Regiment. It formed part of 40 Heavy Anti Aircraft Brigade deployment.

A report, compiled in 1996 from wartime documentation, lists the ‘Diver’ anti-aircraft gun sites in east Essex in summer/autumn 1944. Site No K7, at Military Grid Reference M 708424, is recorded on 24 November 1944 as being equipped with four 3.7 inch Mk IIc guns manned by 136 Regiment 182 Battery. <1> Diver site K8 is recorded in EHER 21365. An aerial photograph taken in July 1946 shows the area very clearly. The site was on the north end of The Naze. In a large field here over 40 huts lay in four distinct rows, mainly Nissen-type. To their east, on the pre-war golf course, can be seen a great many earthworks, ditches, bomb craters and military structures. Among these are the parch marks of a single row of eight guns with their control buildings behind. However, it is known from the same records, that ‘Diver’ Site K8 was also deployed here, with eight guns (see SMR 21365). These gun positions therefore probably belonged to K8, not K7. Among the great number of ground disturbances in this area it has not been possible to positively identify a row of four gun positions to conform with the K7 wartime record. <2> It is thought that both K7 and K8 shared the same accommodation in the 40+ huts, with separate gun sites although, as stated, only the eight guns of K8 have been identified. Site visit by F. Nash in February 2010 as part of the defence of Tendring survey The area of the huts is now an open field. However, the rubble of the demolished remains lines the south edge as a long unbroken pile beneath the tall bushes. Clearly, it was bulldozed here when the field was cleared. <3> Two photos of site. <3> While some features were mapped as part of the original NMP, further features were mapped as part of the 2009 update programme, however the 'Diver' site was not obvious on the aerial photograph viewed in 2009. A structure with associated platforms was mapped on the original NMP although it was not classified as a possible 'Diver' site. <4> No new information from the NRHE.