Simpson & Brown Architects with Addyman Archaeology

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Blyth Battery

Blyth Battery

Blyth Battery

Blyth Battery

Blyth Battery

Blyth Battery

Blyth Battery, Northumberland is a collection of Grade II listed concrete structures which gained Scheduled Monument status in 2006. The majority of the Battery buildings were built in 1916, with the exception of the Second World War Battery Observation Post.  It is an exceptional example of a complete First World War coastal defence battery and is the most intact, accessible and intelligible defence battery on the North East England and Yorkshire coast. The restoration project was grant aided by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

All the main buildings, including gun emplacements, observation points, magazine and ammunition stores and shelters survive and are accessible with historical information given via waymarker posts. Most of these buildings were vacant although the magazine and the Second World War  Battery Observation Post had been used as storage. 

The Magazine Building has been carefully repaired and is now the visitor centre for the site including an exhibition and audio visual display and the Shelter Building, previously used as a public toilet, has been transformed into an educational facility.

Following consultation between the architects, archaeologists, English Heritage and the local volunteer groups it was agreed that once repaired, all the buildings would be painted to identify the period in which they were built.  The mixed colour scheme, while based on historical precedent, is dramatic and clearly shows the public that a major transformation has taken place. 

The Blyth Battery project is considered to be highly sustainable as the work carried out is designed to secure the long term future of the buildings and site and break the cyclical pattern of short term and inappropriate maintenance work. The conservation plan identifies that the site has low to medium significance in terms of its biodiversity based on the contribution that it makes as part of a local nature reserve designated in 2003.  The land and foreshore to the east of the site has high biodiversity significance and the improvements made to the site aim to raise awareness of this natural landscape.

Project name: Blyth Battery