Monument record 7966/0/1 - Brafield Searchlight Battery

A searchlight battery from World War II. The site is on the list from Northamptonshire SMR where it is known only from documentary sources. It was probably constructed between 1939 and 1945 but its condition is uncertain at the time of the Defence of Britain survey. The site was operated by the 467 S/L Battery 73 S/L Regiment. The site is located with a searchlight emplacement (AMIE 1412417) between Cogenhoe and Brafield on the Green.

{1} Original source PRO ref WO166/3313; details of 467 Searchlight Battery 73 Searchlight Regiment. Sept. 1940. Ref: 25641, Brayfield, MGR 83/276798.

{2} Brafield Searchlight Station - Aerial photographs reputedly show three circular cropmarks suggesting it was the site of a 90cm light. RAF vertical photograph 1192 CPE-UK-1994 taken the 13th April, 1947 shows little except a series of dots of pits on a SW-NE alignment. An enemy bomb was dropped in Spring Banks, SE of the searchlight battery. The crater is extant. The site is destroyed.

{3} A searchlight battery from World War II. The site is on the list from Northamptonshire SMR where it is known only from documentary sources. It was probably constructed between 1939 and 1945 but its condition is uncertain at the time of the Defence of Britain survey. The site was operated by the 467 S/L Battery 73 S/L Regiment. The site is located with a searchlight emplacement (AMIE 1412417) between Cogenhoe and Brafield on the Green.

<1> 1940, PRO ref: WO166/3313: 467 S/L Bty. 72 S/L Regt. September 1940, (checked) (Document). SNN101211.

<2> HOLLOWELL S., 1998, DEFENCE OF BRITAIN RECORDING FORMS, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN51548.

<3> Migrated Defence of Britain Project database record originally compiled from various sources (Database). SNN112922.

<4> Historic England, Undated, Defence of Britain, DEB01 (Archive). SNN112947.

Record last edited

Mar 8 2024 1:11PM