Monument record 2944 - Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery at Norley 365m SE of Finger Post Farm

<1> W.D.Cocroft, 2001, Cold War Monuments: an assessment by the Monuments Protection Programme (Report). SCH4336.

Documentary evidence confirms that the Anti Aircraft Battery was a new site, built around 1950, to house four 5.25-inch guns. The plan form of the site remains intact, defined by tarmac tracks and concrete floor slabs. Also surviving are the reinforced concrete generator and gun shed building, and the command bunker. Characteristically, of post-war sites, the gun pits appear to have been arranged in a shallow arc; unfortunately a low mound covers their site and field evidence was unable to confirm the condition of the gun pits. This site was being considered for listing in 2001. This battery was controlled from the Anti Aircraft Operations Room at Frodsham (which has also been recommended for protection), and their protection would illustrate two dispersed components of the early 1950s air defence system.

Post-war HAA Batteries were grouped around the major conurbations and armament producing areas, forming part of an elaborate anti-aircraft defence system, also comprising radar stations, the Royal Observer Corps, interceptor aircraft, Anti Aircraft Operations Rooms, and Light Anti Aircraft batteries. The deployment of HAA and in particular the 5.25-inch guns reflected the threat posed by high altitude bombers and the necessity of using heavy shells to reach those heights. The increasing importance of defence electronics to predict the course of a fast moving target is echoed in the provision of structures, or hard standings, for the gun-laying radars and predictors. The hardened command post illustrates that individual batteries were part of a national system reliant on secure communications. There are two principal types of post-War HAA batteries: those for the smaller calibre 3.7-inch guns, and those for the heavy 5.25-inch guns. The main distinction lies with the gun emplacements. The smaller calibre sites usually comprise four emplacements arranged in a shallow arc with the guns mounted on a central holdfast. The 5.25-inch emplacements are far more elaborate, with a deep pit beneath the gun, housing the powerful hydraulic system needed to absorb the recoil from their shells and the automated loading systems that had been developed towards the end of the war. Sites built in the early 1950s are usually L-shaped in plan, but with variations in internal layout. Associated with both types of sites are gun stores, standby generator buildings, command posts, structures or hard-standings for gun laying radars and predictors, domestic accommodation and other minor features. Some are associated with contemporary Anti-Aircraft Operations Rooms. Following a comprehensive survey, the location and type of each post-war HAA battery is known. During the Second World War nearly 1,000 anti-aircraft gun sites were built, of which 192 HAA sites were selected for retention as the 'Nucleus Force'. By 1950 the scheme had been reorganised to cover three key area: Forth/Clyde, Mersey/Midlands and London/Southeast - this scheme was known as 'Igloo', and comprised 78 sites, 54 of which had guns permanently mounted. Any HAA Battery, constructed after 1945, which has significant surviving remains, including its gun pits, is considered to be of national importance.

<2> English Heritage, Various, Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Amendment), Schedule Description (Scheduling Record). SCH2950.

<3> Huntings Surveys Ltd, 1971-1973, 1971-1973 County Survey (Aerial Photograph). SCH4881.

The site is clearly visible on aerial photographs dating from the early 1970s.

<4> Airviews Ltd, 1983-5, 1983-1985 Airviews Survey (Aerial Photograph). SCH5296.

<5> National Remote Sensing Centre Ltd, 1992-3, National Remote Sensing Centre County Survey (1992-1993) (Aerial Photograph). SCH5297.

<6> Bluesky International Ltd, 1999-2003, 1999-2003 Bluesky Survey (Aerial Photograph). SCH5482.

<7> Bluesky International Ltd, 2005-2006, 2005-2006 Bluesky Survey (Aerial Photograph). SCH5483.

<8> Bluesky International Ltd, 2010, 2010 Bluesky Survey (Aerial Photograph). SCH5444.

The site is now heavily wooded, but the gun positions and one of the buildings (possibly more) survive.

<9> Castlering Archaeology, 2006, Cheshire County Council Heritage Assets Condition Assessment 2006, R2760 (Client Report). SCH4667.

Site of Cold War Anti-aircraft battery now located in conifer crop south of Finger Post Lane. The site is leased to BTCV who are currently using the reinforced concrete building, formerly the Command Post. Use of the site by BTCV will hopefully off-set any natural deterioration. A second concrete structure (the former emergency generator & weapon’s store) is sealed to prevent access. The placing of polythene over its roof suggests the building requires some structural assessment and may require work to be undertaken to make it watertight. The building stands on open ground on the west side of the site with thinly planted broadleaf affording some protection from public view. Evidence of former above and below ground buildings and structures can be seen throughout the conifer plantation.

A 5m wide tarmac track runs through the site linking to the buildings and the former gun emplacements, which appear to be infilled and located below earth mounds. The gunpits may be vulnerable to root damage from the encroaching conifer crop. Further identification work is necessary to locate the precise position and nature of these pits.

<10> Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME), 1990's, RCHME Cold War Project, Wayne D Cocroft/25-AUG-2000/English Heritage Cold War Project (RCHME Research Project). SCH8045.

SJ 572 719. The Anti-Aircraft Battery at Norley is confirmed to be post-War in date by documentary evidence (see 11), which describes it as a `4 x 5.25 new site'. It was probably built about 1950, at a time when Britain's air defences were being modernised to counter the perceived threat by the Soviet Union, heightened by the outbreak of the Korean War. It was one of a number of batteries built in the Merseyside region for 5.25-inch anti-aircraft guns, some reusing wartime sites and others on greenfields. They were controlled from a newly built Anti-Aicraft Operations Room at Frodsham (SJ 57 NW 37), the system was stood down in 1955.

The site sits along the top of the northern escarpment of a small un-named stream flowing northwest to southeast. The site is L-shaped in plan and is largely covered by coniferous woodland. Within the area of the gunsite the track continues and is edged with kerb stones, along its eastern side four short spurs gave access to the gun pits. A low mound now covers the positions of their positions, no surface evidence was seen for the gun pits, it is therefore not possible to say whether or not pits were constructed or whether they have been infilled and covered over.

Behind the gun pits are six concrete floor slabs about 6ft x 8ft (1.83m x 2.44m), originally they had ends faced in brick (one brick thick and were covered by curved corrugated iron sheets. In form they appear to be identical to the surviving ready use ammunition sheds at Kinnerton, Clywd.

To the rear of the gun pits the main track turns north-westward, the first building encountered is the reinforced concrete rectangular generator building and gun shed (its door and window shields are modern replacements), to its rear is a large concrete hardstanding. At the end of the main track is the command bunker, it is square in plan and is entered through doors at either end, on the rear wall is a single window opening. Attached to its front wall are two small cubicles, accessed through single doors from the exterior. The interior of the command bunker is derelict, a wooden partition wall remains and in floor are conduits for cabling.

Manhole covers across the site indicate that it was provided with its own water supply.

<11> War Office, 1951, Anti Aircraft Command Mobilisation Scheme, WO106/5912 1951 (Paper Archive). SCH8046.