What is this on Google maps?

[egoold]

Friend and I were talking at weekend and asked if I knew
What this was near where I live on Google maps

https://maps.app.goo.gl/GhfuYL73vbc63hxw9?g_st=ic



There looks to be 4 similar possibly concrete structures, no idea what they are. Anyone want to guess

[E3134]

Looks like a sand and gravel quarry with a loading area perhaps?

[Doofus]

egoold said:

Friend and I were talking at weekend and asked if I knew
What this was near where I live on Google maps

https://maps.app.goo.gl/GhfuYL73vbc63hxw9?g_st=ic



There looks to be 4 similar possibly concrete structures, no idea what they are. Anyone want to guess

Houses.

See Rightmove.

[essayer]

Former antiaircraft battery site

https://canmore.org.uk/site/105315/stockiemuir

[egoold]

essayer said:

Former antiaircraft battery site

https://canmore.org.uk/site/105315/stockiemuir

Thank you mystery solved . Looks like they have been doing some work around them too

[Doofus]

egoold said:

Thank you mystery solved . Looks like they have been doing some work around them too

They have. As above, see Rightmove.

[s2kjock]

I assumed this was somewhere in the South of England, but surprised to see anti-aircraft batteries in that part of Scotland, and even more so that they were built in 1950.

What were they protecting, and from who, at that time?

[Bonefish Blues]

Holy Loch's not far away?

[bigandclever]

s2kjock said:

What were they protecting, and from who, at that time?

Outbreak of the Korean War and the associated twitchiness of how the Russians would behave?

[lufbramatt]

s2kjock said:

I assumed this was somewhere in the South of England, but surprised to see anti-aircraft batteries in that part of Scotland, and even more so that they were built in 1950.

What were they protecting, and from who, at that time?

The nuclear submarine base at Faslane isn’t far to the west from there

[Bonefish Blues]

lufbramatt said:

s2kjock said:

I assumed this was somewhere in the South of England, but surprised to see anti-aircraft batteries in that part of Scotland, and even more so that they were built in 1950.

What were they protecting, and from who, at that time?

The nuclear submarine base at Faslane isn’t far to the west from there

Wasn't in use for those when these were built. Holy Loch was the original one I believe.

[hidetheelephants]

Doofus said:

egoold said:

Thank you mystery solved . Looks like they have been doing some work around them too

They have. As above, see Rightmove.

Quite optimistic given they got knocked back for planning, all that earthmoving for nowt.

s2kjock said:

I assumed this was somewhere in the South of England, but surprised to see anti-aircraft batteries in that part of Scotland, and even more so that they were built in 1950.

What were they protecting, and from who, at that time?

Protecting us from the red menace. There were others through the central belt; it was a major centre of population and manufacturing just like the Midlands etc. and deemed worth protecting, although jet aircraft and eventually ICBMs rendered even radar guided AA guns obsolete. The defence budget was slashed after the war, only to be massively increased when the Korean war started so delayed projects like this got built even though sober reflection might have caused them to be cancelled as hopelessly out of date. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. At that time the subs were based at Rothesay, the move to Faslane wasn't until the end of the 50s and the USN didn't arrive in Holy Loch until the 60s.

Edited by hidetheelephants on Monday 6th May 22:06

[Jim1064]

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143332604#/...

I like that. But at £1.2M they're taking the piss

[cptsideways]

Jim1064 said:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143332604#/...

I like that. But at £1.2M they're taking the piss

For all of them 1.2m about right

[GliderRider]

If the guns in those four sites were firing at maximum rate, the damage on the ground from falling shrapnel would have been pretty destructive, regardless of what the Ruskies managed to do.

[hidetheelephants]

GliderRider said:

If the guns in those four sites were firing at maximum rate, the damage on the ground from falling shrapnel would have been pretty destructive, regardless of what the Ruskies managed to do.

Gives the kids something to collect for the scrap drive.

[sherman]

Clydebank is not too far south. Protecting the shipbuilding from air raids ?

[Nethybridge]

I wonder why western Scotland was chosen for a nuclear naval base
when other naval bases are in SE England.

Maybe nuclear is the clue.

[ Official SNP anti-English grudge No. 24564334]

[hidetheelephants]

Nethybridge said:

I wonder why western Scotland was chosen for a nuclear naval base
when other naval bases are in SE England.

Maybe nuclear is the clue.

[ Official SNP anti-English grudge No. 24564334]

A practical submarine base had to have a suitable site for a ICBM storage/maintenance/loading facility near enough to be practical but far enough away to not be vulnerable to a single nuclear attack; IIRC other sites considered were Lough Foyle, Falmouth and Milford Haven, they were discounted because of excess irishness, too many people living nearby and being too near to oil refineries etc. Easy access to the North Atlantic is also an advantage for Faslane, it's a short distance from the Clyde to the edge of the continental shelf.

[PurplePenguin]

hidetheelephants said:

Nethybridge said:

I wonder why western Scotland was chosen for a nuclear naval base
when other naval bases are in SE England.

Maybe nuclear is the clue.

[ Official SNP anti-English grudge No. 24564334]

A practical submarine base had to have a suitable site for a ICBM storage/maintenance/loading facility near enough to be practical but far enough away to not be vulnerable to a single nuclear attack; IIRC other sites considered were Lough Foyle, Falmouth and Milford Haven, they were discounted because of excess irishness, too many people living nearby and being too near to oil refineries etc. Easy access to the North Atlantic is also an advantage for Faslane, it's a short distance from the Clyde to the edge of the continental shelf.

The armaments for submarines were stored at Coulport