Monument MPM1149 - World War I Observation Post and Searchlight Station

The remains of a First World War observation post and searchlight control station on Oyster Island, built to monitor traffic in Langstone Harbour.

The remains of a First World War observation post and searchlight control station on Oyster Island, built to monitor traffic in Langstone Harbour.

The observation post is a rectangular building with a concrete base in front surrounded by brick and mortar rubble. It's foundations are approximately 30m x 5, and are aligned on a southwest to northeast axis in the centre of the island. The remains of a tiled floor are still visible, with a concrete base in front of the structure.

The foundations of the searchlight control station formed a circular platform about 4.4m in diameter, with reinforced concrete supports in the centre. Following erosion in December 1999, the platform stood as a circular column of bricks nearly 0.9m high. Nearby was a square column of bricks, possibly a building foundation or support.

At the time of the Langstone Harbour Survey in 1993-4, both structures survived as a single line of foundation bricks, and building rubble littered the whole island with glass from the searchlight itself.

[1, p.107]

<1> Allen, M J & Gardiner, J et al, 2000, Our Changing Coast 'A Survey of the Intertidal Archaeology of Langstone Harbour, Hampshire' (Bibliographic reference). SPM81.