2 Defence Electric Light Emplacements To East Of Link House

BLYTH LINKS ROAD NZ 37 NW (EAST SIDE) 5/121 2 Defence Electric light emplacements, to east of Link House GV II Defence electric light emplacements, 1914-19. Reinforced concrete and steel, with some brick, whitewashed. Two small rectangular buildings 20 metres apart, each with a semi-octagonal projection at the seaward corner.

Each has a doorway and boarded window in the landward end, machine gun loops in the other walls, and boarded openings of curving section in the projection, under a heavy girder; added brickwork above girder level in emplacement no.1 (southern). The projections have flat roofs of a slightly-lower level to the low-pitched roof of the main part. The beam produced by a parabola-ellipse reflector could be directed through an 0.1 metre slit between curved metal shutters and still illuminate a wide area of sea; the 2 emplacements were operated by an E.L.O. (Electric Light Officer) in a director station at Link House Battery (q.v.) 300 metres to the south, and powered by an engine house 50 metres to the west, now a public lavatory (q.v.). Rare survival of a World War 1 coastal defence installation.

Listing NGR: NZ3205879687