Grade II Listed :40mm Bofors AA Gun tower

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by CL1, May 7, 2012.

  1. Guy Hudson

    Guy Hudson Looker-upper

    Photographs of Bofors towers from 1943. No indication of location.
     

    Attached Files:

    Alec1935 and CL1 like this.
  2. hutt

    hutt Member

    I have recently copied the diary of the 26th AA Brigade for 01.08.39 to 31.12.40. There are quite a few references to gun sites across a wide area of north London and I would like to see if this is mentioned. If someone can confirm that it is the structure at the rh corner of the football ground in the attached image I'll see if anything might match.

    Also, would anyone know which regiment may have operated it?
     

    Attached Files:

  3. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Yes mate spot on that is the tower RH side as per my photos


    regards
    Clive
     
  4. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    World War II Bofors Gun Tower and Ancillary Building, Hillingdon

    Description: World War II Bofors Gun Tower and Ancillary Building
    Grade: II
    Date Listed: 15 May 2013
    Building ID: 1414202
    OS Grid Reference: TQ0994186829
    OS Grid Coordinates: 509906, 186817
    Latitude/Longitude: 51.5695, -0.4156


    Locality: Hillingdon
    County: Greater London Authority
    Postcode: HA4 6AH
    Incorrect location/postcode? Submit a correction!







    Listing Text

    Summary
    World War II Bofors gun tower and ancillary building (possibly either a magazine or a shelter for the off-duty gun crew). Tower built c1940 to Directorate of Fortifications and Works (DFW) design 55087.

    Reason for Listing
    The World War II Bofors tower and ancillary building at Ruislip Manor Sports Club, built c1940, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
    * Architectural form and intactness: a well surviving example of a reinforced concrete Light Anti-aircraft (LAA) gun tower, where its original operation is clearly legible through its fabric and unusual for the survival of an associated ancillary building;
    * Rarity: one of only a handful of known examples of this type of site nationally;
    * Historical interest: as a reminder of the air assault on London during World War II and for its likely association with RAF Northolt, a key fighter station during the Battle of Britain.

    History
    Light Anti-aircraft (LAA) sites were designed to provide protection against low-level air attack and nearly 1,250 LAA gun sites are recorded as having been built in Britain during World War II. The gun tower at Ruislip conforms to type DFW 55087. This design was issued by the Directorate of Fortifications and Works (DFW) at the end of 1939 with the earliest examples constructed during the first half of 1940. The tower was designed to raise a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun and its operational equipment above surrounding obstacles in order to achieve an all-round field of fire. The concrete frame could be built to various heights according to need. By the summer of 1940 this design was being replaced by a simpler, steel-framed type. Around 80 examples of concrete-framed Bofors towers are thought to have been built in Britain. Ammunition magazines for the towers were built to differing specifications, often in adapted Anderson shelters, and few have survived. Indeed ancillary buildings of any function associated with Bofors towers are rare survivals.

    At Ruislip, the tower was built either to protect the approaches to RAF Northolt, located 1.3km to the south or, possibly, an underground munitions depot at Ruislip Manor.

    Details
    MATERIALS: reinforced concrete frame and platforms with brick infill.

    DESCRIPTION: the tower, located at the north-east corner of the football ground, comprises two elevated platforms, approximately 5m high, located immediately adjacent to each other, leaving a narrow gap between them at platform level. The Bofors gun would have been mounted on the larger (north-western) platform and its range predictor (to calculate enemy aircraft speed and height and thus ensure the accuracy of the gun) on the smaller (south-eastern) one. This was so that the gun’s recoil did not disrupt the predictor. The raised hexagonal concrete mount for the Bofors gun is located in the centre of the gun platform. It is not known whether the steel holdfast frame survives.

    The concrete frame of the platforms has full-height brick infill which has been extended to the rear (north-east) of the range predictor platform to form a concrete-roofed extension. This had a large opening in the south-eastern elevation, now blocked. Small openings with concrete frames are set high in the brickwork to provide ventilation. There is another large blocked opening in the north-east wall of the infill of the gun platform.

    Internally, the range predictor platform has two floors and the gun platform just one. An external concrete staircase along the south-east elevation provides access from the ground floor to the first floor ammunition store in the range predictor tower (the entrance door in the south-west elevation is bricked up) and then up to the roof. At ground level, the range predictor tower has a pillbox-type room with a low ceiling.

    The gun platform has a single high-ceilinged room on the ground floor. This room and that in the outshut at the rear of the range predictor platform would have housed the operations room and generator. Between the two platforms is a full-height ‘entrance lobby’ with an entrance in the south-west elevation. The brick infill to create this lobby is presumably post war as it would have interfered with the deliberate separation of the two platforms.

    25m to the north-east of the tower is a single-storey, rectangular plan building built of brick with a flat reinforced-concrete roof. It has an entrance on its south-east elevation and a narrow, triple-light metal framed window set high up in the opposite elevation. This was probably either a magazine for the Bofors gun or a shelter for the off-shift gun crew, and is included in the listing.

    Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence.
    http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-1414202-world-war-ii-bofors-gun-tower-and-ancil
     
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  5. Mike L

    Mike L Very Senior Member

    Cheers Clive, glad to see the place listed and properly described.
     
  6. donttellempike

    donttellempike New Member

    cheshunt bofors  fr (1) e09920.jpg cheshunt bofors fr (3) e09920.jpg cheshunt bofors  fr (2) e09920.jpg hello every body
    just joined after reading about bofors tower ruslip..saw MIKE L request to see another bofors tower.took this one in 1978.its still there today.located next to the river lea at cheshunt herts its on the dob data base.
     
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  7. Guy Hudson

    Guy Hudson Looker-upper

    Thank you for posting the photographs. It confirms the location of the photograph of the tower published in War Illustrated.
     

    Attached Files:

  8. ARPCDHG

    ARPCDHG Member

    Does anyone know what the Cheshunt Bofors tower was defending?
     
  9. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    I would suggest protecting the below
    as the crow flies the Bofors tower is less than a mile away

    World War II
    During WWII, Waltham Abbey remained an important cordite production unit and for the first two years of the war was the sole producer of RDX. RDX is one component of torpex, the explosive that was used in the Bouncing Bomb.
    Total transfer of RDX production to the west of England, to ROF Bridgwater; and dispersal of cordite production to new propellant factories located: in the west of Scotland, three co-located factories at ROF Bishopton, to Wales, ROF Wrexham, and to the North East, ROF Ranskill, was achieved by 1943. Many Waltham Abbey staff played a vital role in developing the new Explosive Royal Ordnance Factories, training staff and superintending production.
    The Royal Gunpowder Mills finally closed on 28 July 1945.[1]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltham_Abbey_Royal_Gunpowder_Mills#World_War_II
     
  10. ARPCDHG

    ARPCDHG Member

    Thank you.
     
  11. donttellempike

    donttellempike New Member

    [sharedmedia=core:attachments:142643]
    [sharedmedia=core:attachments:142642]
    [sharedmedia=core:attachments:142641]
    not sure if ive done this right
    should be 3 photos of bofors cheshunt herts 1978.
     
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  12. krrc60

    krrc60 Junior Member

    Hi,
    Could somebody please give me the location of the towers, as I cant find any reference to their position.

    Many thanks
    Dave
     
  13. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Hello Dave
    The tower forms a corner of wealdstone football clubs ground
    Grosvenor Vale, Ruislip HA4 6JQ

    If you enter the ground gates the football ground is on your right and in the far corner is the Bofors tower and behind that is the ammo brick building

    Regards
    Clive
     
  14. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    This Bofors Tower is now to be put on the at risk register.
     
  15. Sussex by the Sea

    Sussex by the Sea Senior Member

    There is a big old concrete structure at Crew Railway Station, i am sure it was for an anti aircraft gun.

    Steve
     
  16. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

  17. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Photos as of 21/11/18
    The building is now in more disrepair.
    I have placed a call and sent upload_2018-11-21_15-0-58.png photos with the local council detailing the issues.
    upload_2018-11-21_14-59-19.png upload_2018-11-21_14-59-28.png upload_2018-11-21_14-59-40.png upload_2018-11-21_14-59-49.png upload_2018-11-21_15-0-14.png
     
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  18. Hi,

    new member and fan of Wealdstone fc. We have found a tunnel near the gun turret identified above. It is located on the back (non football pitch side if you look from above) and to the left(not the ancillary building side.
     
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  19. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Hello Torben
    thank you for the update
    Hillingdon council were supposed to visit the site after a bit more decay has set in.
    I have emailed them again and suggested they take a visit or contact English Heritage
    As you know the building is listed so needs to be checked out

    Lets hope you get in the Conference for next season
     
  20. Thanks,

    We are not sure what the tunnel is and it appears to be deep as well. Any ideas, would there be a shelter so near the turret gun?

    Thanks for the reply. We are doing well and hope to go up.

    Torben
     

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