AA Battery High Mathernock

Rear of command post, and two emplacements

Rear of command post, with
two emplacements behind

A World War II anti-aircraft battery was sited south of Port Glasgow. Part of the Clyde AA Defences. Site number AS6. It was known as High Mathernock, or Mathernock Bridge.

The battery was equipped with four emplacements mounting 3.7-inch guns, a command post, and an accommodation camp to the southeast.

Much of the site remains, with a number of hut bases surviving in the field to the south east of the battery.

Site visit 2007

A site in 2007 visit confirmed some 25 hut bases visible on current aerial images still remained in the field southwest of the batter, with an almost complete first settlement tank, and largely collapsed second tank from the camp's sewage treatment works near the burn at the bottom of the field.

A large concrete base lies in the corner of the main field next to the road, with about two dozen large reinforced concrete beams lying nearby.

Emplacement 4 has had one of the shelters demolished, the roof and a pile of bricks lie nearby.

The only unsecured magazine on this site has what appears to be a small window in the southern wall. On the outside of the building is a small concrete roof panel and some demolition debris, but the purpose of this small compartment is unknown and no evidence of any others was found.

No evidence of the instrument pits for the height finder and predictor could be found. It is possible that this is a later site which used more sophisticated gun laying radar, and did not require either a height finder or predictor. There are several heaps of what appears to be demolition rubble nearby, although these appear to be unrelated to the site as they are largely composed of stone blocks.

There is a possible ramp for a GL Radar next to the command post and one telegraph pole below the building. This is a relic of a multibar single cable telephone system where each line required its own a pair of wires.

A large brick built air raid shelter was also seen in the garden of High Mathernock Farm, next to the lane. Unfortunately, a further visit later in 2007 revealed that this has been removed, and that a new house was under construction on the ground.