A site visit and photographic report on the history and current condition of Kilroot Battery, a 1910 coastal artillery battery on the western coast of Belfast Lough. The fort was in use until 1956 when the coastal artillery units were disbanded, and during the Second World War, it saw expansion… Read More »Kilroot Coastal Artillery Battery
The start of the twentieth century was a post-industrial technological arms race, and the traces left behind are like a timeline of pioneering developments in an attempt to outsmart our adversaries. Two of those boundary-breaking technologies were wireless telegraphy and aviation. The story of Radio Direction Finding, or RDF, joins… Read More »Second World War Aircraft Direction Finding Part I – Background
In the second part of this article, I will pull together information and images from several sources in an attempt to interpret some of the cryptic remains from what I believe to be direction-finding sites across the country. Update 2024: Prompted to reevaluate my interpretation of these sites by author… Read More »Second World War Aircraft Direction Finding Part II – Interpreting the Remains
Ballykinlar (also Ballykinler) Camp started life as a firing range for the 5th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles as they trained for the war in South Africa, fighting the Boers. At the time they were garrisoned in Downpatrick, 8 miles away, and the coastal land at Ballykinlar offered good real estate… Read More »Postcards from Ballykinlar
In the hills above Belfast on Divis is a disused 600 yard military firing range, constructed in 1943 most likely to accommodate training for the high numbers of American troops in the country. A copy of the standing orders still exist, giving an overview of the classification and type of… Read More »Site Visit – Rifle Range, Divis
On the hills approximately 6 miles to the north east of Derry/Londonderry is the small but abandoned signal station at Killylane. Constructed during the Second World War, the site was used for around 20 years as a Royal Navy shore-to-ship radio communication station communicating with naval vessels operating across the… Read More »Site Visit – Signal Station, Killylane
The contentious issue of the Irish border is not a new one. In secret documents uncovered at the National Archives at Kew, one page in particular highlights measures that were considered and dismissed by military planners. A ‘cordon sanitaire’ a mile or so wide along the Border. Illegal for those… Read More »The Hard Border
In order to separate crowds of protesters and offer some protection to security forces and members of the opposite community, a series of mobile sight screens were introduced; constructed out of hessian and timber and mounted on the side of a 4-ton truck, imaged above. The resulting screens were 16… Read More »Mobile Screens
On 8 April 1971, a high priority order was received for three vehicles to be fitted out for use as fish and ship vans in Northern Ireland. After some deliberation, it was decided to use the Bedford J Type (J2SZ2, code No. 2660-0149) Hawson Body large van, three of which… Read More »Armoured Fish and Chip Van
The introduction of the AP rifle launched grenade came after the lethal IRA ambush at Derryard just after 1600 hrs on 13 December 1989. This prompted an Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) to be issued; returning the Luchaire 40mm Rifle Grenade. Along the southern border of Northern Ireland, just north of… Read More »Derryard aftermath; the introduction of the rifle grenade into Northern Ireland