Alternative Names Gsg10; As5; Clyde Aa Defences; Coves Battery; Larkfield Road
Site type ANTI AIRCRAFT BATTERY (20TH CENTURY)
Canmore ID 89403
Site Number NS27NW 20
NGR NS 24659 76519
Council INVERCLYDE
Parish INVERKIP
Former Region STRATHCLYDE
Former District INVERCLYDE
Former County RENFREWSHIRE

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Archaeological Notes

NS27NW 20 centred 24659 76519

For rig and furrow cultivation within and around the area of this battery, see NS27NW 148.

Second World War gun emplacement: details held in Strathclyde Sites and Monuments Record.
SRC SMR 1994.

Situated at Larkfield near Coves Reservoir, this anti-aircraft battery consists of four concrete gun emplacements and a command post with two magazine buildings. There are also two additional holdfasts. The battery is in reasonable condition considering it is exposed to vandalism.
Information from Mr J Guy, August 1996.

This World War II heavy anti-aircraft battery is situated on the W side of Coves Reservoir at the end of a track from Hilltop Road. The brick and concrete command post and four gun-emplacements with two magazines still survive. An additional two holdfast can also be seen.
Records show that this battery was armed with 4 4.5-inch guns.
J Guy 2001; NMRS MS 810/11, Part 2, 80-1; Vol.2 (appendix), 7

This four/six-emplacement battery is visible on postwar RAF vertical air photographs (106G/UK 1317, 7227-8, flown 27 March 1946) which show that the crew accommodation camp was situated to the SW on the other side of Hilltop Road. The camp would appear to have consisted of some 33 huts of both wooden and Nissen types. The two additional emplacements are of square shape in comparison to the original four which are of the more standard circular type.
Information from RCAHMS (DE), December 2002

This six-emplacement heavy anti-aircraft battery is situated in Coves Public Park about 145m E of Hilltop Road and about 186m NW of Coves No.2 Reservoir (NT27NW 165.01).
An arc of four concrete and brick gun-emplacements spaced about 13m apart and each is a octagonal structure measuring about 12m across with a centrally positoned n oval-shaped holdfast. There is evidence of a cable trench to the holdfast can be seen in an earth filled straight narrow trench running to the outer edge of the emplacement. All the emplacements have or had ready-use ammuntion lockers and crew shelters. The northernmost gun emplacement has one 'Walkinshaw' brick built into the wall.
The two later (1942-43) gun emplacements have recently been demolished, but two low mounds of earth to the immediate NW and SW of the command post show where these were located.
Within the arc of gun-emplacements is the brick and concrete command centre, single storey with a flat roof. A further building, an open roofed compartmentalised building immediately to the NW, may be additional accommodation relating to the extra guns.
About 54m NE of the command position is a flat roofed brick and concrete engine room. There is little evidence in the interior of the engine mountings, apart from three steel fixing points in the floor. The building is heavily covered in modern grafitti.
About 49m NNW and 42m E of the command post are the magazines. Both are have internal subdivisions and that to the N is below the level of the other parts of the battery, and has two sunken curved paths. One curves towards the NW emplacement where it links with a brick built stepped rear entrance, the other curves towards the engine room.
The anti-aircraft battery is visible on large scale (1:5000 scale) vertical air photographs (106G/UK/1019, frames 5035-5037, flown 26 November 1945), which show the two additional gun-emplacements are of a different type to the other four. Also visible is the hutted camp on the other side of Hilltop Road of which little remains apart from the concrete roadway and several possible hut bases. The hutted camp consisted of at least 32 huts, mainly wooden with pitched roofs with possibly seven air-raid shelters. The battery is also visible on RAF WW II oblique air photograph (F309, frame 3662, flown 6 June 1941), which shows the site before the additional two gun emplacements were built.
Records held in the National Archives (London) suggest that the battery was armed with four mobile 3.7-inch calibre guns in June 1942 and by November 1943 6 static 3.7-inch guns and had been disarmed by December 1945. Though Guy notes that this battery was armed with 4.5-inch guns, it is known that that what actually happened on the ground does not always match the official records of supply. The Records also show that the manning of the battery was by 42 Brigade, 130 Regiment.
Visited by RCAHMS (DE, AL, SC), 17 April 2008.

The large flat roofed brick and concrete building about 54m NE of the command position has been identified as a gun store (J Guy; J Bamber 2008), and is not an engine room. In addition there is a small extension to this building which was a toilet.
Information from RCAHMS (DE), August 2008.

Scheduled as 'Larkfield Battery, anti-aircraft battery 175m ESE of 1 Hilltop Road... the remains of the Larkfield heavy anti-aircraft battery, dating to the Second World War. [It] consists of a comman post, several gun emplacements and a number of associated buildings. The site is located on a plateau uverlooking greenock, Gourock and the Clyde Estuary at around 90m above sea level.'
Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 25th March 2011.

Redfern, N I (1998) Twentieth century fortifications in the United Kingdom, 5 V. V.1 Introduction and sources; V.2 Site gazetteers: Wales; V.3 Site gazetteers: Northern Ireland; V.4 & 5 Site gazetteers: Scotland York
Page(s): 10 Held at RCAHMS F.6.9.CBA

SRC SMR (1994a) 'Submission by Strathclyde SMR (for year to 31 October 1994)', Discovery Excav Scot
Page(s): 68