World War II defense post - Toward, Dunoon - January 2010

[trencheel303]

This is a bit of an ambiguous one, I hope it's right for the site and this section of the forum.

The site lies at Toward (pronounced 'Te-wurd') Point just 10 minutes drive south of Dunoon, and can be seen from the road. It appears to be on private land (what isn't these days?) and we had to cross a farm to get to it
There isn't much left of the insides of the buildings, but surprisingly most of them are still standing. It's the kind of thing that you wouldn't notice from the road unless you knew it was there... case in point, I've lived in this area for over 10 years and didn't know it existed until my mate pointed it out. He reckons they are from the WW2 era, which would make sense so as to defend from the U-boats creeping up the Firth of Clyde.

Let's get on with it

Difficulty: Easy, just don't get caught crossing the farm.
Time needed: 2-4 hours. Not a big site, but has you wandering for ages, and if you look hard enough, there's all sorts to find.
Return visit: Not essential.

Gear: Canon EOS 450D & 18-55 kit lens.



Approach.




First building.




This one has submitted to the constant battering of our weather.




Control.




Fallin' tae bits!




Watch out!




Window.




Remains of an old fireplace in one of the buildings. I think this was a gatehouse or something similar, due to its position. It's the building on the far right in the approach photo.




The bog ... whats left of it anyway.




Outlet.










Looking in to the central building.




What looks like the remains of a gas lamp, and a bottle. I sincerely hope that white object at the bottom isn't a bone




Looking towards Wemyss Bay and Largs.




Cumbrae.




Arty shot from upstairs.




I can only imagine this was a mount for a weapon, with shell casings on the right.









Switches.


The sun started to set, so I did some of my usual arty shots.



The soldier.




The soldier - Redux.




Bathtime!


That's all for now. More of an excuse to take arty-farty photos than an explore, but I thought it was worth a mention anyway.

[industry]

Some cracking pictures there Mate

[superkev]

Excellent pics there, really like your arty shot! looks like a cracking view!

quite possibly the mounting base for a range finder.

[trencheel303]

I tried to find out more on Google but there's nothing there

[Tankman]

The Defence of Britain Database lists the buildings as:

Toward Point Coastal Battery. The site is depicted as five roofed buildings on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 scale map (1981). The battery was armed with two 4.7in guns during 1940, but recorded as having none by 1943 (PRO: WO 199/2627 and WO 199/527).
(Source: NMR 1999/03)

Link here:
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/spec...TOKEN=67087549

[the_undertaker]

liking the shots looking out to sea, captured in some nice light

[boxfrenzy]

I do like these places. Good report, and top marks to Tankperson for more info

[trencheel303]

Thanks guys and thanks Tankman!!!

[wolfism]

Interesting place - I think there's more about it on the Secret Scotland website. I'm 99% that's a range finder base - we came across one that's almost identical at the Sutors of Cromarty ...