Predannack Battery
1941 Pattern
Predannack Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery was one of two H.A.A. sites constructed to defend RAF Predannack, located to the north-west of the battery. Built during the Second World War, the site formed part of Britain’s air defence network protecting the airfield from enemy aircraft. It was a mixed battery, with both men and women serving on site in operational roles.
Condition: Fully Intact
Meaver Battery
1943 Pattern
Meaver Battery, constructed in or after 1943, was located approximately 1.67 miles north of Predannack Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery, adjacent to Meaver Road on what is now private land. The site followed the later wartime layout, consisting of four square 1943-pattern gun pits arranged around a central control building. Unlike the larger command bunkers found at many other H.A.A. sites, the control building at Meaver was comparatively small. A few nearby outbuildings were also present, most likely used as a latrine or store. With no evidence of accommodation or extensive support facilities on site, it is likely that the men and women serving at Meaver Battery operated closely with the Predannack crews and were billeted in the same accommodation located opposite Predannack Battery.
Condition: Less than 5% Remaining. A few concrete plinths exist under the reclaimed ground
Swanpool Battery
1941 Pattern
Swanpool Battery was a Heavy Anti-Aircraft site located approximately 1.65 miles west-south-west of Pendennis Castle at Falmouth. Today the remains lie on land owned and operated by Falmouth Golf Club, though during the Second World War the area was open farmland on the clifftop at Stack Point. The battery consisted of four 1941-pattern gun pits arranged around a traditional command bunker used for directing fire and coordinating the defence of the Falmouth harbour approaches. Evidence also suggests the presence of either a later 1943-pattern emplacement or a position adapted for the more advanced 4.5-inch anti-aircraft gun. Numerous accommodation and support buildings were situated further to the north of the gun site, indicating that Swanpool Battery operated as a largely self-sufficient defensive position during the war.
Condition: Less than 15% Remaining
Command Bunker & Some Brick outbuilding exist
Mylor Battery
1941 & 1943 Pattern
Mylor Battery was the most northerly of the four Heavy Anti-Aircraft sites constructed to defend Falmouth Harbour during the Second World War. The battery was a largely self-sufficient installation, with more than two dozen support and accommodation buildings spread across the nearby fields. The main site consisted of four 1941-pattern gun pits that would have housed Vickers 3.7-inch H.A.A. guns, supported by a typical command bunker design seen at many wartime batteries. Two additional 1943-pattern gun pits were later added, with their own magazine to strengthen the defences. By 2005 the last remaining gun pit had been removed, leaving the command bunker as the primary surviving structure, which still stands today among modern developments. The site has largely faded into a commercial area, with one of the few reminders of the past being a memorial stone commemorating the many Ukrainians who fled Russian communism and found refuge in England.
Condition: Less than 10% Remaining
St Just-in Roseland Battery
1941 & 1943 Pattern
St Just-in-Roseland Battery was another largely self-sufficient Heavy Anti-Aircraft site and shared many similarities with the nearby Mylor Battery. During the Second World War the site was supported by more than forty accommodation and service buildings spread across the surrounding fields. The battery itself consisted of four 1941-pattern gun pits designed to house Vickers 3.7-inch H.A.A. guns, along with a typical command bunker used for directing fire. Two additional 1943-pattern gun pits were later constructed, complete with their own magazine to strengthen the harbour defences. Positioned as the most north-easterly of the four batteries protecting Falmouth Harbour, the site formed an important part of the defensive network. Today the later 1943 gun pits have been removed, but the command bunker and the four 1941-pattern gun pits still survive. Built close to the hedge lines, the earlier gun pits avoided later development and remain today, though they are heavily overgrown with limited access, while the command bunker sits largely intact in the centre of an area now surrounded by scrub-land.
Condition: More than 70% Remaining
St Anthony Head Battery
1941 & 1943 Pattern
St Anthony Head Battery was another largely self-sufficient Heavy Anti-Aircraft site and shared many similarities with the nearby Mylor and St Just-in-Roseland batteries. During the Second World War the site was supported by around twenty accommodation and service buildings located in the surrounding fields. The battery itself consisted of four 1941-pattern gun pits in the southerly field, with two additional 1943-pattern gun pits constructed in the northern fields. Only one command bunker appears to have been built, serving the earlier 1941-pattern battery. Positioned as the most south-easterly of the four batteries defending Falmouth Harbour, the site formed an important part of the harbour’s anti-aircraft defences. Today no structural evidence of the battery or its support buildings remains, with the only visible trace being an unusual kink in the track leading to the site, marking the former position of the guard house that once controlled access to the battery.
Condition: No Evidence
St Winolls Battery
1941 & 1943 Pattern
This early Second World War Heavy Anti-Aircraft battery is located approximately 500 metres north-east of Hendra Farm, positioned on the north and east facing slopes of a hill. The site was later replaced by a newer battery, St Winolls Battery B, constructed around 200 metres to the south-west. By around 1942 the battery was believed to have been equipped with four 4.5-inch H.A.A. guns arranged in an arc around a central command post. Remarkably, this command post still survives and retains a number of original internal fittings, including the fusbox connections to the individual guns and the main electrical fusebox, making it the only example of its type in the Plymouth area to preserve such detailed internal features. A later observation tower was added to the southern end of the structure. Today two of the gun positions on the north-east side remain within an area of scrub bordered by a hedge, while the surrounding accommodation buildings to the north and north-east have been demolished and the land returned to cultivation. The guns were orientated to cover the north-west, north and north-east approaches, allowing them to engage aircraft following the easily identifiable St Germans River route towards the Plymouth Dockyard.
Condition: Some minor infrastructure and the early command bunker, although buried in undergrowth.
Whitesand Battery
1943 Pattern
Whitesand Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery was a later-war site believed to have consisted of six, and possibly seven, 1943-pattern gun pits. Unlike the earlier 1941 designs, these emplacements incorporated their ammunition magazines within the gun pits themselves rather than being externally pretruding to the gun pit. The six main gun positions were arranged around a circular access track, allowing the guns to cover almost a full 360-degree field of fire. A further gun pit was positioned in the centre of this ring, possibly serving a specific operational or experimental role. Today much of the site has been overtaken by modern commercial development, although evidence suggests that one gun pit still survives among the buildings, along with the possible remains of the command bunker located to the north of the original gun circle.
Condition: Some minor infrastructure including one gun pit and potentially the command bunker adjacent to a new water reseroir.
Penlee Battery
1941 & 1943 Pattern
Penlee Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery was located on the brow of a ridge to the north-west of the late 19th-century coastal battery at Penlee. Constructed in the early years of the Second World War, the site followed the typical 1941-pattern layout and by 1941 was recorded as operating four 3.7-inch anti-aircraft guns manned by 203 H.A.A. Battery. The gun pits were arranged in a circular formation covering the south, east and north-east approaches, all connected by an access road and supported by a sunken magazine and command bunker used for directing fire. Additional surface buildings, likely including a gun store, stood nearby, with sentry posts controlling access to the site. Although the battery was demolished during the 1970s, the original access road still survives and the positions of the former gun emplacements remain clearly visible in the landscape.
Condition: No Structural Evidence
Kerketh Battery
1941 Pattern
Kerketh Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery, located less than a mile from St Merryn Airfield and approximately 2.6 miles from St Eval, formed part of the air defence network protecting the airfields from the northern approach over the Celtic Sea. The site consisted of four 1941-pattern gun pits positioned in a straight line, all facing north-west towards the coast. No surviving evidence of support buildings suggests that the men and women who operated the battery were likely billeted at nearby St Eval. Today, little remains of the installation: the command bunker survives in poor condition around 20 metres inside the field gate, while stones once used to construct the gun pits can now be seen incorporated into the surrounding hedgerows.
Condition: Less than 20% survives. The command bunker is the only remaining feature although missing in areas
St Eval Battery
1941 Pattern
The St Eval Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery was positioned between the cliffs above Morgan Porth and RAF St Eval to the east, forming a key part of the airfield’s defensive network. During 1940, RAF St Eval was one of the most active airfields in the South West and endured frequent enemy raids, often almost nightly. Unlike many of the RAF personnel on the airfield who could seek shelter during an attack, the gunners at the battery remained at their posts to defend the station. Photographic evidence of the site is scarce, but the available images suggest four 1941-pattern gun pits arranged with two facing east and two facing west. The battery was supported by more than a dozen associated buildings within the same field, indicating a largely self-contained position. Today, no visible remains survive, and the site has long since been returned to agricultural use.
Condition: No Structural Evidence
Wheal Kitty Battery
Possible 1943 Pattern
The Wheal Kitty Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery was located less than a mile south-west of Perranporth Airfield and around 1.5 miles from Cameron Camp at New Downs, a light anti-aircraft training camp equipped with Bofors 40mm guns. Records and limited evidence suggest that the battery existed during the war and was still noted in 1946; however, some sources indicate that it was never fully completed or armed. As a result, its operational role remains uncertain. Today, no visible traces of the battery survive, and the site has become heavily overgrown, leaving any remaining evidence largely concealed from view.
Condition: No Structural Evidence
Mawla Battery
1943 Pattern
The Mawla Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery once stood to the east of RAF Portreath and consisted of four gun pits and a control room forming part of the airfield’s defensive network. With no evidence of nearby support facilities, it is likely that the Royal Artillery personnel who manned the guns were billeted at RAF Portreath, less than a mile to the west. Opened in March 1941, the airfield required protection from enemy aircraft approaching from the east, and during Luftwaffe raids in April and May 1941 aircraft were shot down in the vicinity, most likely by guns from the Mawla battery. Today, no visible remains survive, and the site has been reduced to barren ground with little to indicate the battery’s former presence.
Condition: No Structural Evidence
Carvannel Downs Battery
1941 Pattern
Carvannel Downs Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery, located around 1.4 miles south-west of RAF Portreath, formed part of the defensive ring protecting the airfield during the Second World War. Working in conjunction with the Mawla battery to the east, Carvannel Downs defended the western approaches to the station. The site consisted of standard 1941-pattern gun pits and a command bunker, with evidence suggesting a searchlight position just to the west of the guns. Unlike many similar batteries, Carvannel Downs was a substantial and largely self-sufficient installation, supported by more than 30 military buildings to the south which likely provided accommodation and operational facilities for the personnel stationed there. Despite its importance during the war, no visible traces of the battery remain today.
Condition: No Structural Evidence
