WW2 HAA Gun Site Traditional Geocache
grimmerscotting: Taking down.
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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A cache placed close to the only remaining Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun Site in Essex.
An aerial photograph taken in May 1946 shows the site in open fields. There are four octagonal or circular gun emplacements in a semicircle facing east. In each there is an emplacement with seven internal ammunition recesses and two small shelters. At each end of the semicircle there is a further square gun emplacement. These each have four internal ammunition recesses. The rectangular command post is in the centre of the semi-circle of gun emplacements. Approximately 200 yards to the west, on the east side of Shopland Road, at least 30 huts and structures of the accommodation site can be seen.
Today, on an area of scrub and thicket between the fields of Butlers Farm, the four octagonal emplacements still remain, providing the sole surviving examples of this type in Essex. The inner part of the emplacements, where the gun once stood, is almost circular and measures about 27 feet across. At the centre of the northernmost emplacement, a holdfast of four steel girders embedded in the concrete base in a square pattern can still be seen. In some of the ammunition recesses, the lettering "A" to "G" remains in white paint. On the wall of one of the ammunition recesses in emplacement no. 3 (counting from the north), the letters "SHRAP" can be made out, clearly the remains of the word "SHRAPNEL”.
At the site of the command post, there is a huge pile of soil which is completely overgrown with high brambles. There is some broken brick and concrete around and in the ground but it is impossible to tell whether the command post has been demolished or whether it still remains beneath the heaped-up earth. Nothing remains of the accommodation site.
Parking is very limited so I've shown two locations, both of which can be very muddy. If you park at location 1, simply follow the track down the side of the field to the site. If you park at location 2, walk over the brook and follow the footpath down the side of the field until you come to a track that takes you back over the brook to the site. I hope you enjoy this cache and please take care when visiting the site, especially if you have little ones in tow.
Happy Hunting.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va n ubyr va gur jnyy bs gur avtug furygre.