Pair of c. 1900 defence electric lights in concrete housings about 25m apart, on the riverbank, and aligned slightly downstream, some 75 m. NW of Shornemead Fort. The lights were sited to provide illumination for the boom defence battery some 200 m. east of the fort. They were rectangular concrete buildings with their flat roof slightly sloped to their front. Within each a carbon arc searchlight was mounted, powered by a cable from a generator plant somewhere to the rear. They were exposed as and when needed, through a sliding metal shutter facing the river. They may have continued to assist the Second World War emergency battery east of the fort as they are shown still existing in an aerial photograph of 1946. Subsequently demolished, they could have been a casualty of improvement works to the river flood defence bank in c. 1949.
Owner : Public
Publicly accessible : No
How accessed for survey : The buildings are no longer extant
Tourism Potential : As part of a general historical and interpretational package for Shornemead Fort
Condition : Destroyed
Date of visit : 15/02/06

War Office, 01/09/30, Shornemead Fort (Map). SKE14017.

War Office, 01/09/30, Shornemead Fort (Map). Ske14017.

War Office, 12/02/1897, Minefield Battery at Shornemead Fort (Map). SKE14016.

War Office, 12/02/1897, Minefield Battery at Shornemead Fort (Map). Ske14016.