Search Light Post at Shoeburyness – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
East along from Shoebury’s Gunners Park where the old ranges were, along the seawall by the Garrison, lies several WWII coastal defences built to protect this major military site during wartime. We visited these in 2011 and 2018, when the photography below was captured.
No.2 Searchlight Emplacements
The pair of Coastal Artillery Searchlight Emplacements housed 90cm Coastal Search Lights with 90/42 Mk V Projectors. They would have been moveable to point at enemy vessels to target at night via a rail which still survives, which also would have accommodated steel shutters. It is thought that the front of the bunkers may have been altered after wartime. A third bunker stood some fair distance further east along the seawall, but was demolished. Its base is still visible in the wall.
The searchlight emplacements in 2011 pre-redecoration:
The Third Demolished Searchlight
Further along the Shoebury shoreline to the east of the extant searchlight emplacements, the base of a third can be seen at the bottom of Rampart Terrace. This could have been demolished when the houses inland were constructed. Thanks to Richard Kemp for allowing us to use his photograph of the site below.
Type 24 Vickers Seawall Pillbox
A FW3/24 pillbox also survives embedded into the seawall. This would have had three firing loopholes (slits) at the front for what is believed to have been a Vickers medium machine gun – a heavier armament than was common in pillboxes. It had an entrance and defensive small-arms slits at the rear. This is believed to have originally been at ground level. Below are our photographs from 2011:
Shoebury’s Other Military Sites
Sources:
https://www.southendtimeline.com/theoldranges.htm
