Journal 22.
Downloaded from the Council for British Archaeology (South-West) website.
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/cbasw/

A previous article by the author1 documented the WW2 artefacts recovered at the edge of Berry Head

during excavations at the site of a stone- built enclosure wall, carried out by Brixham Heritage Museum\u2019s Field Research Team in years 2000 to 2007. Some of these artefacts are believed to have been associated with an artillery detachment manning two Bofors anti-aircraft guns located nearby.

Figure 4-1: Diagram showing the internal components of a WW2 Mills No. 36M grenade together with the three base plugs found at Berry Head: Brixham Heritage Museum Accession Numbers (right to left) 6584.1, 6584.2 & 6584.3. Drawing by Robert Rouse, Brixham

In addition to the artefacts already published, there are three others that indicate military activity at Berry Head during WW2 \u2013 all were found during a metal detector survey of Berry Head Common (for map see Armitage 2008 Fig. 1) carried out in 2003 by members of Brixham Heritage Museum\u2019s Field Research Team. After the 2003 field survey these items (along with the other finds from the Common) were stored away in the Museum reserve collections. They remained in

further discoveries made at Berry Head in 2007, the author decided to carry out more detailed research into these objects, the results o

Journal 22.
Downloaded from the Council for British Archaeology (South-West) website.
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/cbasw/

When first discovered, the three metal (copper alloy) objects were not immediately recognised and although dated to the WW2 period were believed to be simply the screw caps off petrol cans. However after inspection by Brixham Museum\u2019s Chairman, Mr. Edgar Lawrance (Master Gunner Royal Artillery, retired) they were all identified as the base closing plugs to WW2 Mills No. 36M grenades. Although of the same design, each plug had been the product of three different manufacturers, as evidenced by letters on the base (see Figure 4-1, below). Following a lead suggested by Mr. Andrew Smith (editor of CBA SWJournal) who had located a website specifically on grenade base plugs, the author contacted the website creator Mr. David Sampson (an avid collector of grenade base plugs) who kindly provided information on two of the three manufacturers represented: P.S.C. denotes the Parkinson Stone Company, whilst Q indicates the maker was the Qualcast Company, Derby. Unfortunately the identity of the third manufacturer WML remains unknown. Further research revealed that the Qualcast foundry in Derby had been established in 1920 and before WW2 produced lawnmowers. During the war the company\u2019s workshops in Derby were re-equipped to turn out mortar bombs and gren

As a safety measure, the igniter assembly of the grenade (consisting of a firing cap surmounting a five-second safety fuse linked to a fulminate of mercury detonator) was stored/transported separately from the main body of the grenade, which contained the bursting

Once armed, the grenade was ready for use and subsequently could either be hand-thrown at the enemy or \u201cfired\u201d from an adapted (ordinary) .303 calibre Lee-Enfield rifle, which functioned as a short-range (up to 70 yards) mortar. The adapted rifle (known as the \u201cE-Y rifle\u201d) was equipped with a cup discharger at the muzzle and the grenade fitted with a gas check plate at its base (see Figure 4-1). Before inserting the grenade into the cup discharger, the ringed split pin would be withdrawn and the striker lever held firmly against the body of the grenade. After leaving the cup discharger on the rifle (when fired), the striker lever flew off, allowing the spring-powered striker-rod to initiate the deto