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The Par Coastal Gun Battery was a coastal
The battery never fired a shot in anger. There were a number of practice firings both by day and by night. The Par 
gun battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to facil ...
constructed in the summer of 1940 when Britain was facing the threat of invasion
An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory (country subdivision), territory controlled by another similar entity, ...
from Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
. It is on the former site of the Par Consols Mine, overlooking Par Docks
Par Docks is an Imerys-owned Harbor, harbour in the village of Par, Cornwall, Par, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, which was used for the export of Kaolinite, china clay from the numerous Imerys sites in the clay-rich region of Mid-Cornwall.
...
.
Establishment of the Battery
Role of the Battery
The Battery's primary role was to deny the port and beaches to the enemy by engaging ships seawards. The secondary roles were to neutralise the beaches atPolkerris
Polkerris (, meaning ''fortified pool'') is a small village on the south coast of Cornwall, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Fowey.
The village is part of the Menabilly estate, which is one of the seats of the Rashleigh family (c ...
, Par Sands & Spit Beach, and to complete immobilisation of harbour installations if the Local Naval Officer fails to do so. Priority being:The National Archives – WO 192-152 Par Battery Fort Record Book 1940-45
i. Pier Head
ii. Crane at Inner Dock
iii. Crane at North Quay
iv. Footbridge at Inner Dock
The battery would engage vessels in the following order:
i. Armoured Fighting Vehicle
An armoured fighting vehicle (British English) or armored fighting vehicle (American English) (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by vehicle armour, armour, generally combining operational mobility with Offensive (military), offensive a ...
-carrying transports
ii. Troop-carrying transports
iii. Warship
A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is used for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the navy branch of the armed forces of a nation, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations. As well as b ...
s
CASLs
Two Coastal ArtillerySearch Light
Searching may refer to:
Music
* " Searchin", a 1957 song originally performed by The Coasters
* "Searching" (China Black song), a 1991 song by China Black
* "Searchin" (CeCe Peniston song), a 1993 song by CeCe Peniston
* " Searchin' (I Gott ...
batteries were built at the water's edge on the west side of the harbour entrance. Both were of the same design. Their purpose was to illuminate the target for the guns at night. No.1 CASL was completed on 17 March 1941. Its light could be worked by hand or remote control. No.2 CASL was completed on 30 May 1941. It was hand controlled only.
Only one of the CASLs remains. The other was undermined by coastal erosion
Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...
and its steel girder
A girder () is a Beam (structure), beam used in construction. It is the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams. Girders often have an I-beam cross section composed of two load-bearing ''flanges'' separated by a sta ...
s supporting the roof collapsed. There are a few remnants on the shoreline. To preserve the other a concrete block wall was built to support the roof girders changing the look of the battery from an open faced building with large steel shutters to a building with smaller embrasure
An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of Age of Gunpowder, gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a sp ...
s.
The CASLs were powered by an engine house
__NOTOC__
An engine house is a building or other structure that holds one or more engines. It is often practical to bring engines together for common maintenance, as when train locomotives are brought together.
Types of engine houses include:
* ...
sited just behind the Batteries but this was demolished by the china clay company in the early 2000s.
Life of the Battery
The battery never fired a shot in anger. There were a number of practice firings both by day and by night. The Par Home Guard
Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense.
The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting ...
defended the perimeter of the battery. The nearest the battery came to being hit by German bombs was at 0500hrs on 13 April 1941 when the Harbour Master's house received a direct hit killing one soldier from the DCLI on coastal defence duties. The Paddington-Penzance railway line was also damaged. In April & May 1942 the 4 inch guns were dismounted and replaced by two 138mm GF guns from the French naval ship 'Paris' which had been seized on 3 July 1940 in Plymouth
Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
and then used as a barracks ship
A barracks ship or barracks barge or berthing barge, or in civilian use accommodation vessel or accommodation ship, is a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sai ...
by the Polish Navy
The Polish Navy (; often abbreviated to ) is the Navy, naval military branch , branch of the Polish Armed Forces. The Polish Navy consists of 46 ships and about 12,000 commissioned and enlisted personnel. The traditional ship prefix in the Polish ...
. In 1943 the site was developed to improve the accommodation and facilities for the men serving on the battery. The top part of the site was used by the Americans
Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...
in 1944 and then after D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
it became German Prisoner of War Camp 674, Consols, Par. The guns were finally dismounted in June 1945.
Remains of the Battery
Five buildings remain on the site.Cornwall Historic Environment Record Entry No 75518 The War Shelter for No 1 gun, theMagazine
A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
for No 1 gun, the War Shelter for No 2 gun, the Magazine for No 2 gun and the Shell Store (where the shells were stored as opposed to the Cordite
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in Britain since 1889 to replace black powder as a military firearm propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burni ...
charges which were kept in the underground magazines). It is also possible to finds the gun mounting bolts under the vegetation. The top part of the battery was developed into a residential site, today called The Mount. One CASL remains by the water's edge at Spit Beach.
References