THE HEUGH BATTERY, HARTLEPOOL

 Whilst we were up in Hartlepool to see the Trincomalee, we also visited the Heugh Battery, a coastal defence battery dating back to the First World War. It's just a small museum run entirely by volunteers but worth a visit even if it's just for the fantastic bacon and egg butties!

The Heugh Battery is unique as it is the only WW1 battlefield on British soil and commemorates the Bombardment of the Hartlepools which took place on 16th December 1914 by the Imperial German Navy. Again, I am just starting this post with images but will add descriptions at a later date.

As well as the gun emplacements, there is a small armoury displaying various firearms including the original "anti-tank" rifle which was called a "two shot rifle" -one shot for each broken shoulder. There is also a reconstruction of a WW1 trench down in the magazine, some very interesting early black powder breech loaders and the observation/control tower, the windows of which are engraved with outline images of the German fleet. I tried to line them up properly with the horizon but I'm just too short!😊

From its banded construction, this ship's cannon must be very early.

The gun at the top is the first ever "Anti-tank rifle." As you can see from the normal infantry rifle below, it is huge! I could barely hold it level! British tanks attacked using these were said to resemble Swiss Cheeses. They did not disable the tank but could kill the crews.