Monument record MWX3084 - Searchlight site on Brownsea Island, Studland

A searchlight building is shown on the Ordnance Survey 6 inch to 1 mile scale map published in 1963. It dates to World War Two and sits to one side of a coastal gun battery placed to guard the entrance to Poole Harbour.

Site of searchlight emplacement, now demolished. [with plan drawn on form].Brownsea Island. <1-3>

Searchlight site on Brownsea Island, mounted to guard the entrance to Poole harbour. <4>

<1> Council for British Archaeology, 1995, Defence of Britain Project, S0007721 (Digital archive). SWX5.

<2> Council for British Archaeology, 2003, Defence of Britain Project Database, S0007721 (Machine readable data file). SDO128.

<3> Council for British Archaeology, 2006, Defence of Britain Project Archive DEB01, S0007721 (Excavation archive). SDO17227.

<4> Papworth, M, 1992, Brownsea Island, Dorset. Wessex region, 112,753 (Unpublished document). SWX1390.

The location of a searchlight building is shown on O.S. 6 inch – 1 mile 1963. This lay on the NE side of the 6 inch coastal guns (112453, 112454) mounted here to guard the entrance to Poole Harbour and in use from 1940 – 1945. A photograph of the building shows that it was similar to 112754 rectangular, built of brick with concrete roof and open on the seaward side but with iron shutters across the opening (cover photograph Legg 1986). Another searchlight was erected to the SW of the battery (112754). Visited 25/2/1992.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1422102 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 8 2024 4:52PM