Out walking yesterday I noticed that a shooting target had been reassembled https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=426244 . I have seen these on the Torver Fells on the left as you walk from the parking towards Dow, also at Attermire on the valley floor below the climbing and also by the path that comes over from Grasmere to Langadale.
I assume these are from Peninsular war times, and that they are from the times of muskets as I guess that a high velocity rifle would either go through them or ricochet uncontrollably for a long way, but trust is I know nothing about guns, but would like to know more about these targets.
Has anyone seen theses elsewhere?
Would they have been used by the regular army or local reserves possibly?
What period are they from?
Any information would be good really.
I was actually up at Attermire last week looking at the targets which are fallen down, but you can clearly some information cast into the metal but forgot to note it down.
PS, this one is by the path that leads from Blea Tarn to the Wrynose road.
There are two very similar structures just outside Glossop, on Lightside . I probably know less than you about weaponry, but I gather these were used during WW1 for training, with firing taking place from about 300 yards away.
I wouldn’t have wanted the job of hiding behind one to check/change the targets!
No, I have thought being behind them could have been frought. If you look at them closely, patterns are inscribed on them, so I wonder if they were whitewashed possibly when in use.
I Googled 'Gun target near Blea Tarn' as per your photo title and got this as the top result:
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1455816
DOH
Some more info here https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-2055-...
> Some more info here https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-2055-...
> Isn't the Internet wonderful!
Yes learnt a lot I did not know. The only thing I do not know is how widespread they are. With 18 ranges in Cumbria, one at Attermire and one at Glossop, it suggests there could be a lot of them around the country.
> I wouldn’t have wanted the job of hiding behind one to check/change the targets!
On the WW1 range on the hill near me there was a 'hut' in front and just to side of the targets where someone would sit and phone back the results to the firing line.
You get them on newer ranges too from 70s and 80s, only there is a deep concrete trench below the targets and a walk way. The targets roll up and down vertically on a pulley system. It's an odd place to be, as you do hear what it sounds like to have rounds going over head, obviously after Iraq and Afghanistan live fire experience is less rare. The concern with all these ranges was ricochet off the metal work, stones etc..
You get them on newer ranges too from 70s and 80s, only there is a deep concrete trench below the targets and a walk way. The targets roll up and down vertically on a pulley system.
The Internet once again delivers:
https:/assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7a0f7de5274a319e777912/JSP403_Vol2_Chap15_DLRSC.pdf
> The Internet once again delivers:
> https:/assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7a0f7de5274a319e777912/JSP403_Vol2_Chap15_DLRSC.pdf
It's very reassuring that so much thought about safety goes into the design and construction of these ranges.
However . . . as you cycle from Leyburn to Grinton in Swaledale, you notice that one of the ranges on Herontree Allotment, in contrast to all the others, is laid out so they fire towards you on the road. You can see the firing point both around the sides of the butts and over the top as you cycle past. It may be uphill, but it gives a certain urgency to that stretch of the road.
Herontree 6H is not used anymore. That’s why there are two new ranges side by side Herontree North 6Na and Herontree South 6Nb. When Herontree 6H was in use the road was closed and hence there are two little stone huts top and bottom of that stretch of road where the barriers were and the sentries posted. The lower hut is across from the entrance to range Whipperdale 6G and is damaged and fenced off from where a turning vehicle struck it.
Quite a while back I came across this while pondering the history of the Lightside targets, https://glossopcuriosities.co.uk/2021/10/21/home-on-the-range/
There was also a range at Crowden which was in use into the second half of the 20th century, and the remains of projectiles still about in the target area is a similar mix of late C19 and earlier C20 types.
Fascinating stuff - so it’s older than I thought. I love the advert.
> You get them on newer ranges too from 70s and 80s, only there is a deep concrete trench below the targets and a walk way. The targets roll up and down vertically on a pulley system. It's an odd place to be, as you do hear what it sounds like to have rounds going over head
Think it was one of the colchester ranges where it wasnt a trench but instead a raised bank with a ton of concrete and earth. Still unnerving when some idiot emptied an entire mag into it at approximately ear height as I casually lent against it.
I've been to Fingringhoe, but can't recall what the end was like, I think some newer on long range. Semi electronic where they pick up vibration on the target, so shooting low and kicking up dirt on the target still counted as a hit!
> ... is laid out so they fire towards you on the road.
If you were to google for "Swiss rifle range motorway", you might be surprised at what you find.
and a bit of splatter from the rounds occasionally dropping into the trench or on you!
Perhaps that was why the concrete extended as a narrow roof a bit overhead of the trench
And of course you can climb here Shooter's Nab. All those pock marks make great holds !
Out over Xmas I was pointed to an old shooting butt on the fells above Elterwater and Grasmere.
If looking on the OS map it was in the grounds between Spedding crag and Dow Bank. Dow bank being the firing line I think.