1940-1946 Battery Observation Post, Beacon Hill Fort, Harwich.
A three-storied rectangular concrete tower built over a 4.7-inch GF gun emplacement constructed in 1941. The battery observation post (BOP) is rendered and painted with camouflage, the south-east wall is painted with a door and window to look like a house, there are even painted curtains. Each floor is reached by an external stair on the north-eastern wall, comprises a single room measuring 20ft 11in x 14ft 11in. Just below the ground floor level, a doorway under the stairs opened onto part of the 4.7-inch gun emplacement.
The ground floor room is entered through a doorway in the north-west wall, 2ft 11in wide x 6ft 5in high, with a metal frame and a inward-opening metal door. In the north-east and south-west walls, high level horizontal-slit windows splay to the interior, they have two-light metal frames which open inwards and downwards, and there are remains of internal wooden shutters. There was formerly a boiler against the north-east wall which supplied hot water to heat the BOP, several pipes remain and pass from floor to floor through narrow slits. Similar slits in the floor on the south-west side allowed passage of electric cables. This room housed telephones.
The first floor room is reached through a doorway in the north-western wall, 2ft 6i wide x 6ft 6in high, with a metal frame and a outward-opening metal door. The interior is painted orange with cream above head height and there are windows in the north-east and south-east walls, each 3ft 6in wide x 3ft high, with metal frames for a vertical row of three lights, opening downwards, next to a single larger light, opening sideways. All windows have external shutters. Heating pipes and power fittings survive. This room was for the officer in charge of the BOP.
The second floor room, with a door identical to that below, is unpainted. An observation embrasure, 2ft high, runs the length of the south-east wall for 8ft 1in along the north-east and south-west walls. The embrasure contains the remains of metal glazing bars and, below it, vertically-sliding galvanised iron shutters. External metal shutters opened downwards to rest on metal struts projecting from the walls. A central iron girder run axially along the centre of the room and is embossed by the makers ''Dorman Long of Middlesbrough''. Towards the eastern corner, a pillar 1ft 4in square and 4ft high supported a depression range finding instrument, and there is a small niche in the side for a telephone. Behind the pillar are bolts on the floor which anchored a plotting table. Heating pipes and power fittings survive.
The WWII Battery Observation Post was known as ''The Dolls House'' - flic.kr/p/2ocDoXy
Information sourced from - RCHM England.
1940-1946 Battery Observation Post, Beacon Hill Fort, Harwich.
A three-storied rectangular concrete tower built over a 4.7-inch GF gun emplacement constructed in 1941. The battery observation post (BOP) is rendered and painted with camouflage, the south-east wall is painted with a door and window to look like a house, there are even painted curtains. Each floor is reached by an external stair on the north-eastern wall, comprises a single room measuring 20ft 11in x 14ft 11in. Just below the ground floor level, a doorway under the stairs opened onto part of the 4.7-inch gun emplacement.
The ground floor room is entered through a doorway in the north-west wall, 2ft 11in wide x 6ft 5in high, with a metal frame and a inward-opening metal door. In the north-east and south-west walls, high level horizontal-slit windows splay to the interior, they have two-light metal frames which open inwards and downwards, and there are remains of internal wooden shutters. There was formerly a boiler against the north-east wall which supplied hot water to heat the BOP, several pipes remain and pass from floor to floor through narrow slits. Similar slits in the floor on the south-west side allowed passage of electric cables. This room housed telephones.
The first floor room is reached through a doorway in the north-western wall, 2ft 6i wide x 6ft 6in high, with a metal frame and a outward-opening metal door. The interior is painted orange with cream above head height and there are windows in the north-east and south-east walls, each 3ft 6in wide x 3ft high, with metal frames for a vertical row of three lights, opening downwards, next to a single larger light, opening sideways. All windows have external shutters. Heating pipes and power fittings survive. This room was for the officer in charge of the BOP.
The second floor room, with a door identical to that below, is unpainted. An observation embrasure, 2ft high, runs the length of the south-east wall for 8ft 1in along the north-east and south-west walls. The embrasure contains the remains of metal glazing bars and, below it, vertically-sliding galvanised iron shutters. External metal shutters opened downwards to rest on metal struts projecting from the walls. A central iron girder run axially along the centre of the room and is embossed by the makers ''Dorman Long of Middlesbrough''. Towards the eastern corner, a pillar 1ft 4in square and 4ft high supported a depression range finding instrument, and there is a small niche in the side for a telephone. Behind the pillar are bolts on the floor which anchored a plotting table. Heating pipes and power fittings survive.
The WWII Battery Observation Post was known as ''The Dolls House'' - flic.kr/p/2ocDoXy
Information sourced from - RCHM England.