Summary

Observation Post 7 is a stone- and earth- covered concrete splinter-proof shelter, also known as a bunkhouse, built up on a small granite outcrop near to west of the East Okement River and 110m west of the military ring road.

Source: Historic England

Details

PRINCIPAL FEATURES: Observation Post 7 is a stone- and earth- covered concrete splinter-proof shelter, also known as a bunkhouse, built up on a small granite outcrop near to west of the East Okement River and 110m west of the military ring road.

DESCRIPTION: a splinter-proof shelter constructed of pre-fabricated concrete blocks lying on the south-western side of a large protective mound of boulders and turf. It consists of three bays and measures 6m, south-west to north-east, by 2m and is 2.5m high. The bays, probably originally open on the south side or partially covered by an earthen bank, are protected by a cast-concrete blast wall topped by a tubular-metal handrail and approximately 1.5m high. Entrance is gained to the shelter via steel rungs cast into the blast wall. The protective semi-circular mound measures 7m, south-west to north-east, by 6m and is just under 3m high. The mound material is retained by a coursed boulder revetment.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: a buffer of 2m is included around the shelter for the support and preservation of the structure.

EXCLUSION: a cable tapping-in point within the interior of the mound is excluded from the scheduling, although the wall and floor structure beneath it is included.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Observation Post 7 to the west of the East Okement River and the military ring road at Okehampton Artillery Range is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Period: the Royal Artillery Training Range at Okehampton played an important role in the advancement of new military techniques and tactics from the late C19 to the present day, and has a strong cultural and historical significance, within both a local and national context. This early-C20 splinter-proof shelter forms of the earliest phase of the range’s development;
* Survival: Observation Post 7 is one of the best surviving of the early-C20 splinter-proof shelters on the range, with a relatively low level of erosion and few significant alterations;
* Rarity: as the official summer school of the School of Gunnery, the range at Okehampton became the most important artillery range established in the late-C19, with a set of imaginative, and in some cases unique, practice range features;
* Documentation: the structure has been documented in historical maps of the range, and a number of landscape and condition surveys throughout the C21;
* Group value: the shelter has strong group value with the other related military training features. The associated camp to the north is also of historic significance in itself, particularly the listed late-C19 buildings, and the range and the camp should not be seen in isolation of each other. The Okehampton bunkhouses are a key part of a larger multi-phased military landscape that can be seen across Dartmoor.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Websites
English Heritage Pastscape Monument No. 967377, accessed 22 January 2015 from http://www.pastscape.org.uk

Source: Historic England