March 1996: A WWII anti-aircraft battery appearing extant on an early RAF vertical photograph.<1><2>

July 1998: Documented in contemporary records as "C6 Colchester: Fridaywood Farm", a WWII Heavy Anti-Aircraft gun site, S of Colchester. Equipment and manning at the site is documented at various dates (Dobinson, 1996):

Manning
Date Guns Radar Regt Bty
20 May 1942 4 x 3.7"(m) GL Mk II 71 229
22 Jun 1942 4 x 3.7"(m) GL Mk II

An aerial photograph taken in March 1945 shows four square gun emplacements, each with four internal ammunition recesses, W of Fridaywood Farm. They are on the S side of a bend in the track and are in a rough semi-circle facing S. There is no sign of the command post.

The fields to the N and W are criss-crossed with anti-landing ditches but no accommodation hutting can be seen. <3>-<5>

Site visit August 1998: The area of the gun emplacements is now a rough meadow of gorse and grass with some of the concrete bases of the emplacements still visible. At the site of the easternmost emplacement at TL 9832 2119 part of the pattern of holdfast fittings can be seen. These are the acceptance ring for the mounting plate locating spigot flanked by four of the levelling nuts which are screwed onto the holding-down bolts (Dobinson, 1996, Vol 1.1, p.124). On one of the levelling nuts the letters "F.Y.T.", "4.5", "H.A." and "1942" are clearly engraved. For a comparative photograph showing the layout of the holdfast fittings see top of p.54, "20th Century Defences in Britain", Lowry, B., 1995. Three photos were taken of the site. <6>

1998: SITE ASSESSMENT: The lettering on the levelling nut is historically interesting but otherwise too little of the site remains to be of significance.<7>

2007: ESSEX GRADING: The Essex Grading of "C6 Colchester" has been amended from one to two - star.

See also <8>.