Monument record 4121/0/7 - Searchlight Battery at Willaston

Searchlight battery at Greenbank Farm, Willaston in association with an air raid shelter. Land based searchlights were used for three main purposes. The first was to search out enemy aircraft in the sky and keep the light shining on them to allow friendly artillery and aircraft to see the enemy more easily. The second was to try and blind the enemy bomber by shining the light up at the enemy planes. The third was to guide damaged friendly planes back to their bases. They could also be used to search out enemy vessels in coastal context. The sites were normally simple, with the lights being surrounded by a small ring-ditch, and with a trench or shelter for defence during air-raids. Some of the sites were provided with standard hutting. As the ring ditch is the most common surviving feature it is important to know where these sites are as they can be mistaken for prehistoric features.