Kilroot Fort, Defence Electric Light Position (South)

            I was privileged to have a tour of the old Kilroot Fort on Belfast Lough at the end of December 2019. The fort is privately owned and in daily use by heavy industry. It can not be accessed without permission. 

Constructed as a sister coastal artillery battery to Grey Point Fort, the battery at Kilroot was completed in 1910 and equipped with twin 6in guns in barbettes. The two gun positions have since been removed, as have two flanking infantry blockhouses, and the earth banks to the front have also been dug away, exposing the front of the fort structure and helpfully giving an insight into construction. It appears that all the ancillary fort buildings remain and are still in daily use, and a large proportion of the original internal boundary wall exists. Kilroot shares a number of features with Grey Point fort but does not appear to have seen the further developments that Grey Point saw.

There doesn't appear to be a Battery Commanders post remaining at Kilroot and I am unsure where it would have been.

On the shore are two searchlight (aka DEL; Defence Electric Light) emplacements constructed from reinforced concrete with steel fittings. These are unique in that they are two stories high and sit elevated above the Lough. The purpose of the lower level is unclear, but the steel shuttering and profile of the windows or loopholes suggests they may also have served as infantry fighting positions. However, they only open to the flanks and rear of the post, and not to the front. The lower level may even have served as a crew shelter or generator room, however I saw no evidence of a plinth for such equipment. The upper level houses the Defence Electric Light or searchlight, and would have bene operated by an Electric Light Operator (ELO) to signal to and light up shipping attempting to enter Belfast Lough. 

The battery and searchlight emplacements are now scheduled monuments.

Some rights reserved

Taken on: December 31, 2019

Tags:

Kilroot Battery

Kilroot Fort

World War One

World War Two

WW1

WW2

home front

Northern Ireland

County Antrim

Carrickfergus

Royal Artillery « less

Sets appears in: • Searchlight Emplacements, Kilroot Fort • Coastal Artillery Battery - Kilroot Fort, County Antrim

Camera: Sony ILCE-6000, f/8.0, 1/30 sec, 18mm (=27mm), ISO 125 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony ILCE-6000
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.033 sec (1/30)
Focal Length:	18mm (35mm equivalent: 27mm)
ISO:	125
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	ILCE-6000 v3.20
Show full info

Stats: 282 views

go back

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder