Myre End HAA site, Cairneyhill, Fife

[DaveFleming]

Discovered this whilst lookint at aerial photos of my local area on Canmore.

http://www.digitalfife.com/Index.asp?MainID=5944

Must wander along when the weather improves.

[REF]

Looks intresting, andfairly complete too. Nice find.

[PETERTHEEATER]

That must be the only survivor of the half dozen or so HAA sites in that area.

Odd that the webpage from your link states that the Mire End site started with 4.5 inch guns and was re-gunned to 3.7inch later!

http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepat...z=17&oz=7&gt=1

[DaveFleming]

Indeed - perhaps a reflection of the reduced threat?

Thanks for the link - never seen that site before, will book mark that! From that, the gun site is 1.3Km walk from my house !! Lived here 17 years and never knew it was there!

The GetMapping aerial photos are from 2000, so who knows what development has gone on since then.

[the_historian]

Dave,
The site is remarkably well-preserved. The original guard room is now used for livestock, and the original perimeter fence begins there and runs about 10-20 yards or so.
The first gunpit behind it has a unit badge painted on the wall of the crew shelter (added on to the exterior of the gunpit after building, and then spoil from local bings was piled around the pits). Gunpit 3 has remains of camouflage paint around the exterior, while most pits have the original compass point lines painted inside them. All the magazines are extant, and a couple still have stock numbers inside. The control room is flooded, and the generator building for the radar still exists at the east end of the site, amongst the ruins of the communal site.
If I remember correctly, this battery was first to open fire on the German raiders over the Forth on 16/10/39.
Here are some photos from my website, although I took them a couple of years ago; click on each one for more info-
http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y20...es/Myre%20End/

[PETERTHEEATER]

the_historian - A nice series of photographs and easy to watch in 'Slideshow' view, thanks. What's your opinion on the gun types from viewing the extant holdfasts?

[the_historian]

Peter, They look like static 3.7" Vickers Armstrongs. Have dozens of photos of this site, but those are the only ones online.
The sewage works, septic tank house, pyrotechnic stores and a couple of other buildings all survive, along with what looks to have been the wooden messhall.

[PETERTHEEATER]

Thanks, that's what I should expect.