Lavernock : the old fort

When you walk along the Wales Coastal Path between Barry and Penarth, the route takes you past this old fort at Lavernock, now enclosed in a nature reserve, known in Welsh as Trwyn Larog and maintained by The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.

The buildings we see today date from the Second World War but this place has been a fort since at least the mid-19th century, when the 1860 Royal Commission recommended the building of a fort to guard against invasion by the French.

During World War II the threat was mostly airborne so this concrete anti-aircraft battery was built, one of a series of defences along the Bristol Channel. The signboard at the site explains:

There were four 3.7” anti-aircraft guns arranged in a clover-leaf pattern with a lighter, 40mm Bofors gun nearby. There were also a command post, a magazine and a workshop. The crews slept in huts which have now vanished. Many similar batteries were built during the war, but few remain.

The site is unusual because two of the gun pits (1 & 2) had steel doors to allow the guns to be lowered to engage shipping. Pits 3 & 4 have earth banks but no concrete walls, and no separate magazine.

The numbered maps (above and left) show the positions of the various gun pits and, as you can see, there is another concrete building (5) at the southern end of the reserve. 

The signboard explains ‘this was a searchlight position for a shore battery, protecting the Bristol Channel from enemy ships. This shore battery now lies under the chalets’ of the St Mary’s Well Bay Caravan Park.

These days this structure often provides protection against bad weather for birders sea-watching and observing the annual bird migrations.

The whole site is now protected as a Scheduled (not so) Ancient Monument – the Ancient Monuments website provides more detailed information – but, sadly, that has not stopped graffiti artists from defacing the concrete with their tags. It is also not unusual in the summer months to encounter scantily clad elderly males lolling about in the sun on the rooftops here – you have been warned!