Site Visit – Cabin Hill, Belfast
A photographic visit.
Site Visit – Fort Burgoyne
A collection of photographs that were taken on a tour by the Land Trust in 2007.
North Irish Horse Camp, Antrim
Located on what is now Steeple Road PSNI Training Centre, was a 440 bed camp of the North Irish Horse. Very little is evident today of what was vacated over 100 years ago, but the site boundary is almost identical to what the reserve cavalry soldiers would recognise from their… Read More »North Irish Horse Camp, Antrim
Site Visit – Ulster Folk Museum
On a rather damp and dreary day in January 2018, I took myself and a friend off to the Ulster Folk Museum, Cultra, near Holywood. The living history museum tells the story of life in early 20th Century Ireland through a unique collection of every day buildings which have been… Read More »Site Visit – Ulster Folk Museum
Randalstown Camp
Dissected by the M22 motorway at Randalstown, an army camp capable of housing more than 5,000 British and Irish soldiers in preparation for the trenches of France once sat, with little trace remaining today. With 65 million untrained men called up to fight in WW1, a problem arose in how… Read More »Randalstown Camp
Pre-OCTU Wrotham Camp
The purpose built Pre-Officer Cadet Training Unit at Wrotham Camp was reputed to be at one stage the largest training establishments in the world with up to 10,000 cadets on site at one time. The first intake into Wrotham was in August 1942 and the camp continued training potential Officers… Read More »Pre-OCTU Wrotham Camp
Site Visit – Mereworth Woods Ammunition Depot
Just west of RAF West Malling is a dispersed ammunition site dating from WW2. Still owned by the MOD, the forested site is a dry training area (ie; no live ammunition is fired, blank only) frequently used by Cadet and Army Reserve units. There is an active helipad on site,… Read More »Site Visit – Mereworth Woods Ammunition Depot
Site Visit – Maunsell Sea Forts
A total of three sea forts under the control of the Army were constructed in 1941/42 to protect the vital shipping lane and air corridor along the River Thames which had suffered greatly from magnetic sea mines dropped by German aircraft. Devised and named after their creator Guy Maunsell, the… Read More »Site Visit – Maunsell Sea Forts
Coastal Artillery – Depression Range Finding
Updated February 2023 with excerpts from the official coastal artillery training manual from 1932. Often found in coastal artillery forts, this concrete pedestal would have been home to a Depression Range Finder (D.R.F.), an instrument designed in the 1880s used to calculate the distance and bearing of enemy shipping in… Read More »Coastal Artillery – Depression Range Finding