Site of Second World War HAA battery, TN8, Northwick (EHER 14735)

Now destroyed. Site of Second World War heavy anti aircraft battery at Northwick. It was listed as unarmed in 1942 when it was manned by a battery of the RCA.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: Site of Second World War heavy anti aircraft battery at Northwick. It was listed as unarmed in 1942 when it was manned by a battery of the RCA. <1> Documented in contemporary records as "TN8 Northwick", a WWII Heavy Anti-Aircraft gun site between Northwick and Monkswick, at the west end of Canvey Island. Equipment and manning at the site is documented at various dates: 30 Apr 1940: Regt-unmanned. 2 Jun 1940: Guns-3 x 4.5", Regt-171. 20 May 1942: Guns-unarmed, Radar-none, Bty-RCA. 22 Jun 1942: Guns-unarmed, Radar-none. An aerial photograph taken in 1960 shows the site with four octagonal gun emplacements in a semi-circle facing east. They have six internal ammunition recesses and appear to conform precisely with that shown diagrammatically as "March 1938 pattern". Between the two northernmost emplacements an on-site magazine bunker can be seen. In the centre of the semi-circle is the command post. About 150 yards to the south-east are the accommodation huts, approximately 12 in all. An aerial photograph taken in 1990 shows the partial survival of three emplacements, the command post and on-site magazine, with the 12 accommodation huts. <2> - <5> December 1994. Aerial photography. World War II anti-aircraft battery appearing as earthworks on RAF aerial photographs, four gun emplacements. <6> - <9> 1999. Site visit. Site visited as part of the MPP process. Three photos and nine aerial photos of site. <10> <11> July 2000. Scheduling. The World War II Heavy Anti-aircraft gunsite, documented in wartime records as 'TN8 (Thames North) Northwick', is located in an area of low-lying pasture within the westernmost peninsula of Canvey Island, bounded to the north by East Haven Creek and to the south by Holehaven Creek. The monument lies in three areas of protection. The first includes the gun emplacements, the command post, the on-site magazine, gun store and the associated section of the military service road. The second area includes the sewage disposal unit which was related to the battery accommodation and is situated some 150m to the east of the gun emplacements. The third area includes the pump house, which stands 150m to the south of the disposal unit and served the facility. TN8 was designed for the operation of four heavy Anti-aircraft guns, each mounted within an octagonal, shoulder-high concrete emplacement. Three of these enclosures still stand and the foundations of the fourth are thought to survive buried beneath a slight mound. The emplacements are constructed to a recognised design, known as the ‘March 1938 pattern’, arranged in an arc with the apex facing east towards the usual direction of incoming German aircraft. The three standing emplacements each contain six internal recesses built into the internal faces of the surrounding walls. The remaining sides of each octagon were originally fitted with steel gates which could be opened to allow the movement of guns. The on-site magazine bunker, a bomb-proof rectangular building, lies between the two northernmost gun emplacements. A second unroofed rectangular structure, the gunsite command post, occupies the central position within the arc of gun emplacements, accompanied by the generator building which housed the power supply for the guns and locational equipment. The gun store, a concrete garage-like structure, lies some 50m south of the emplacements, to the east of the service road and north of the accommodation huts for the garrison. Eleven of these brick built huts remain in use as light industrial premises. The huts and the related part of the service road are not, therefore, included in the scheduling. The pump house, a small brick built structure, lies some 10m to the east of the barracks. This served the camp’s sewage disposal unit, which consisted of a separation tank and a cluster of small ancillary buildings lying alongside a drainage channel some 130m to the north east. War Office documents on gunsite TN8 indicate that the battery was operational by 1940 and mounted three 4.5 inch guns in June of that year, manned by 171 battalion of the 6th Anti—aircraft Division. <12> See also: <13> <14>