Summer Walk, Blyth Coastal Battery - Tuesday 13th August 2019.
On Tuesday 13th August, Morpeth Camera Club members met in the car park at South Beach, Blyth for walk No
9 on the summer programme. South Beach and surrounding area is a good location for photography with many
subjects to photograph and on this occasion our aim was to explore the Coastal Defence Artillery Battery. Suitably
refreshed after some excellent fish & chips the group dispersed to look around the Grade II listed concrete structures.
Blyth Battery was built in 1916 to defended the Port of blyth and its submarine base during World War I and it was
later upgraded for re-use during World War II. The site consists of two Gun Emplacements, a Magazine & Shell store,
an Artillery store, two Observation Posts, a Blockhouse, Shelter, two Searchlight Emplacements and an Engine House.
These buildings have now been painted in different colours to identify the period in which they were built, grey for
WWI, pink for WWII and white for alterations between and after the wars.
As the fine evening was briefly interrupted by a very heavy shower, the group took shelter in the two elevated gun
emplacements and photographed the recently installed replica Mark VII 6 inch naval guns. The original guns had a
range of seven miles to the horizon and the new additions are virtually the same as what would have been there in
WWII, and at 23 ft long they give a real sense of scale and an understanding of their use. After the rain we were
rewarded with some excellent light and the spectacle of a large rainbow out at sea.
Leaving the battery buildings members walked onto the promenade, stopping briefly at the colourful beach huts
then moving down onto the beach. Views of the pier, the offshore wind turbines, weathered wooden groynes and
reflections in the pools left by the outgoing tide were all recorded. After the last few images were taken of the full
moon rising over the bay, we returned to our vehicles via the Searchlight buildings and the quirky "ship-shaped"
Dave Stephens centre to end our visit. Thank you to everyone who supported another interesting evening walk.
Davy Bolam.
9 on the summer programme. South Beach and surrounding area is a good location for photography with many
subjects to photograph and on this occasion our aim was to explore the Coastal Defence Artillery Battery. Suitably
refreshed after some excellent fish & chips the group dispersed to look around the Grade II listed concrete structures.
Blyth Battery was built in 1916 to defended the Port of blyth and its submarine base during World War I and it was
later upgraded for re-use during World War II. The site consists of two Gun Emplacements, a Magazine & Shell store,
an Artillery store, two Observation Posts, a Blockhouse, Shelter, two Searchlight Emplacements and an Engine House.
These buildings have now been painted in different colours to identify the period in which they were built, grey for
WWI, pink for WWII and white for alterations between and after the wars.
As the fine evening was briefly interrupted by a very heavy shower, the group took shelter in the two elevated gun
emplacements and photographed the recently installed replica Mark VII 6 inch naval guns. The original guns had a
range of seven miles to the horizon and the new additions are virtually the same as what would have been there in
WWII, and at 23 ft long they give a real sense of scale and an understanding of their use. After the rain we were
rewarded with some excellent light and the spectacle of a large rainbow out at sea.
Leaving the battery buildings members walked onto the promenade, stopping briefly at the colourful beach huts
then moving down onto the beach. Views of the pier, the offshore wind turbines, weathered wooden groynes and
reflections in the pools left by the outgoing tide were all recorded. After the last few images were taken of the full
moon rising over the bay, we returned to our vehicles via the Searchlight buildings and the quirky "ship-shaped"
Dave Stephens centre to end our visit. Thank you to everyone who supported another interesting evening walk.
Davy Bolam.