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Blast from past at North heritage site; pounds 80,000 sees restoration of gun battery.


Byline: Tony Henderson

ALANDMARK heritage site launched its latest blast from the past yesterday.

The gun battery and magazine where ammunition was stored during the two world wars at Tynemouth Priory and Castle has been refurbished in a year-long pounds 80,000 operation by English Heritage English Heritage is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) with a broad remit of managing the historic environment of England. It was set up under the terms of the National Heritage Act 1983. .

The feature will be open to visitors from today as part of the Life in the Stronghold exhibition which tells the story of the 2,000 year-history of the headland site.

In the 18th and early 19th centuries Tynemouth Castle was used as a coastal gun battery in response to threats of a French invasion. The current battery was commissioned in 1904 and was operational during the First and Second World Wars.

Visitors can now explore the space in which the battery unit of around a dozen soldiers worked.

The complex includes the shell store and hoists to the guns, the separate cartridge (1) See phono cartridge.

(2) A removable storage module that contains magnetic disks, optical discs, magnetic tape or memory chips. Cartridges are inserted into slots in the drive, printer or computer.
 store and the clean room between the two chambers where the soldiers changed into special magazine clothes before handling the explosive cartridges. English Heritage Tynemouth site supervisor Stephen Laidler said: "The Tyne was an important river and the battery's job was to protect the river mouth." It also acted as the command centre for most of the North East coast defences.

The conservation work at Tynemouth forms part of a series of projects which are repairing, interpreting and enhancing the 20th Century military heritage along the North East coastline.

Work is currently under way at Blyth Battery in Northumberland supported by a package of funding including an English Heritage grant of more than pounds 120,000 and the Heugh Battery Trust in Hartlepool - which was attacked by German warships in the First World War - has major plans for repair and interpretation.

Tynemouth featured two six-inch naval guns List of Naval Guns, listed below by country in caliber order. France
  • 380 mm Model 1935 naval gun
  • 340 mm Model 1912 naval gun
  • 330 mm Model 1931 naval gun
  • 305 mm Model 1906 naval gun
  • 305 mm Model 1893 naval gun
  • 240 mm Model 1902 naval gun
 with a range of eight miles, a 9.2-inch gin with a 12-mile range and an "interrogation interrogation

In criminal law, process of formally and systematically questioning a suspect in order to elicit incriminating responses. The process is largely outside the governance of law, though in the U.S.
" gun used to fire shots across the bows of ships which entered the river without flying the correct identification flag.

Rob Flower, North East head of visitor operations, said: "Tynemouth Priory and Castle is a well known Christian heritage Christian Heritage can refer to:
  • The Christian Heritage Party of Canada, a political party.
  • Christian Heritage New Zealand, a defunct New Zealand political party.
  • Christian Heritage School, the name of several different private schools in the United States.
 site but the role it has played in defending the North East coast over the years should not be forgotten."Visitors can explore the space in which the battery unit of around a dozen soldiers worked

CAPTION(S):

BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE Stephen Laidler from Tynemouth Priory with the newly-restored gun. Below, in the new laying down shelter.
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Publication:The Journal (Newcastle, England)
Date:Apr 29, 2009
Words:410
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