East Halton World War 2 Anti Aircraft Battery Balloon Site
East Halton - Second World War heavy anti aircraft battery - that was the mission of the day.
Following a tip off from indispensable Chris Keyworth I set forth once again in search of a piece of Lincolnshire history of which I had, yet again, never heard of and thanks to the information and map coordinates from CeeKay the mission was a success.
One source mentions a ‘Balloon Site’ at East Halton though I think this isn’t it. Information from English Heritage lists a site as an Anti-Aircraft heavy gun battery manned by 270 Battery of the 91st Royal Artillery Regiment in 1940 - that’s what I believe we have here.
As usual I hope that others will chime in with their superior knowledge and experience with any information they have on the site so over time we can assemble as much historical and anecdoatal information on the site as possible.
It would be great to get some anecdotal local background information !
A Building Near the Site Entrance
It’s not the first time we’ve been on the bunker trail, Stallingborough was very impressive as was Brocklesby it looks as though I may need to try and visit all of the notable ones in the county for photographing and recording !
A Heavy Anti Aircraft Battlement ?
I’m struggling to find some solid and reliable information about this site so hopefully somebody may be able to fill in some gaps.
I think firstly we need to establish firmly exactly what went on here and, if possible, identify the exact nature and use of each of the buildings shown.
I venture to suggest the the brick building at the head of this article is possibly accommodation quarters ? That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was unconnected with the areas military operations
Possibly a Look-Out Sentry Building ? at Site Entrance
How to Get There - Directions
Ordnance Survey Map Coordinates: TA 1360 1900.
On the main road through East Halton , coming from Killingholme, there are two left turnings for Thornton Abbey, half way between the two there is a public footpath on your left, walk down there and all will be revealed. Please note the public right of way goes passed the site and not through it.
One of the Bunkers / Emplacements
Doing the research I can I suspect that the information found on the 17 Balloons site could refer to another site near Goxhill ?
There was a Second World War bombing decoy site there according to EH - completely different site - hence the slight confusion.
There’s more to come on the East Halton area as I’ve decided to split the trip so as to keep to specific topics and avoid the cross posting of information.
Any ideas, opinions or information about this site would be hugely welcomed by all. Please note comments are welcomed at any time in the future as well.
Defensively Yours
Rod
chris keyworth said,
October 24, 2009 @ 8:51 pm
Hi Rod
The Hull Docks Decoy was located at TA 1400 2300 it was an area litt at night to resemble Hull Dock yards
the picture of the small brick hut above, i found a picture of that on the website that i put a link to the other day, it has a man on the roof with a lewis gun, very interesting…
regards
chris
Rod said,
October 25, 2009 @ 9:48 am
Hi Chris,
it is extremely interesting and hopefully we’ll get somebody passing by one day that knows more of life there at the time.
EH call the site you mention East Halton and I think that the excellent site you mentioned previously
http://www.17balloons.co.uk/pages/page-07.html refers to TA 1400 2300 and not the site pictured above.
What do you think . . . ?
Cheers
Rod
Steve Leighton said,
February 28, 2010 @ 3:50 pm
I remember my now late Father telling a story of his time in the Home Guard when he was stationed on the Humber
They were manning the Anti Aircraft Rocket Projectors allong the River as I beleive the Luftwaffe used the Humber- Trent as a Route to the Midlands.
Rod said,
February 28, 2010 @ 6:53 pm
Hi Steve,
many thanks for the informative comment and welcome to the site.
That’s really just the sort of thing we love to hear and the sort of information we’re trying to collate and preserve.
Many thanks indeed
Cheers
Rod
bob said,
January 5, 2012 @ 12:26 pm
Hi
On one of my rambles with a friend i came across a similar sort of building, mostly underground though. entrances bricked off and heavily damaged i assume due to the years.
It was in Halton woods in Aylesbury, no grid ref.
It looked as though it was lived in with guttering in the brickwork, and as i say an entrance. it looks the same size as the one shown in the photo. it is almost half mile from the edge of the training wing of R.A.F Halton so leads me to believe that this is connected but it shows no signs of mechanics you normally see to suugest it had an emplacement on it.
So maybe a training bunker for when it was functional im finding it diificult to find out on the net so hopefully you may be able to help?
Thank you
Bob