Penarth Head Battery - No. 1 and No. 2 Emplacement Defence Electric Light (DEL).

A series of concrete footings and sections of superstructure scattered across the beach is all that remains of No. 1 and No. 2 Emplacement Defence Electric Light (DEL). This battery was a defensive searchlight covering shipping into the Cardiff and Penarth Docks.

The light housing was constructed from steel and concrete with a steel shutter across the front. This was set on runners so that it could be drawn across the whole front of the structure. The searchlight housings were in turn mounted on a set of reinforced concrete legs, to set them high above the beach.

Access to the site was from a set of concrete steps from the Penarth Head Battery above. The emplacement was manned by No 3 Electric Light Company.

The site was still in use up until 1920, when the lights are shown on the Severn Defences Index Plans as having been ‘withdrawn’ (Map No. 4 WO78/5215).

The Penarth Head Battery site and the DEL were sold at public auction in 1931.

Local knowledge suggests the lights were still in place however up until the 1950's, when they were demolished.

'GGAT 137 Defence of the Realm : Coastal Defence and Port Facilities : South East Wales and the First World War' [1108] [1109] : -