2018

NS3777 : Kipperoch decoy fire control bunker

taken 6 years ago, near to Renton, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland

Kipperoch decoy fire control bunker
Kipperoch decoy fire control bunker
The present image is one of three I took on this occasion. Click on the end-note title for other views of the bunker and associated features. In the present view, the Clyde is in the background.

A NS3776 : Bomb crater in Perrays Wood and others nearby that have since been ploughed out are perhaps a result of the decoy fire associated with this bunker. There are also some pits closer to the decoy fire site itself that I have interpreted as craters: NS3678 : Bomb crater. Note that there are also several small quarries in that area, which was once associated with cornstone workings: NS3678 : Former cornstone workings on Carman Muir.

Anyone looking for craters in the area might find it useful to know that there are many small round pits, and larger irregular ones, on Carman Muir; these, though, are relics of limestone quarrying: see Link for details and for a link to a map (an annotated satellite image) I made in this connection. As that map shows, the pits (the smaller round ones are test pits) all lie on the lines of the limestone outcrops, in groups oriented in the same direction; they are clearly not bomb craters.

Some months before taking the present picture, I had spoken to someone in Dumbarton Library about the Cardross Blitz, and I had been offered several theories on why Cardross, not an obvious target, was hit. One was that the bunkers of NS3578 : Cardross Golf Course had appeared, by means of the concave-vs-convex optical illusion, to be mounds rather than hollows, and so had been mistaken for oil tanks. Another was that Ardmore Point with its hill had been mistaken for Dumbarton Rock, and hence Cardross for Dumbarton.

At the time of writing, an article — LinkExternal link — at the Helensburgh Advertiser sets out these (or very similar) ideas, and others; it also has additional information on the Kipperoch decoy and its results.

[A note on taking these pictures: I am naturally stealthy, but in this case, with the site of interest only 100 metres from dwellings, I made the effort to make myself visible to the farmer, who was outdoors, and to ask before visiting and photographing the bunker; simple courtesy is a good enough reason, but it also spares the residents from needless worry or alarm.]
Kipperoch Starfish decoy

According to LinkExternal link (at Secret Scotland), there was a Starfish decoy (a kind of WWII decoy fire) at Kipperoch (c.NS369782). There are no visible remains at the fire site itself, but the control bunker survives, about 800 metres to the SE. Its entrance passage faces ESE, and a chimney-like feature at the SW is an access hatch above a ladder.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Lairich Rig and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Derelict, Disused Defence, Military Period: Second World War other tags: Starfish Decoy Control Bunker Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Articles: · Carman Hill Automatic Clusters: · Kipperoch Decoy fire Control Bunker [3] · Tank [2] Other Photos: · Bomb crater in Perrays Wood · Bomb crater in Perrays Wood Title Clusters: · Kipperoch decoy fire control bunker [3] ·
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NS3777, 40 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Lairich Rig   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Friday, 2 February, 2018   (more nearby)
Submitted
Wednesday, 7 February, 2018
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NS 3738 7757 [10m precision]
WGS84: 55:57.8113N 4:36.4090W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NS 3739 7757
View Direction
WEST (about 270 degrees)
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SW S SE
Image Type (about): geograph 
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