Merchant Navy Memorial At Battery Point

A Memory of Portishead.

One freezing cold day in December 2010 I went for a long coastal walk while staying with our friends Valerie and Jim Bougnague in Portishead. I was fascinated to find what I thought was a small lighthouse on the very tip of Battery Point but when I walked over a metal catwalk above the rocks to reach it I read a small sign: "This is a fog siren and may sound without warning. Please wear ear defenders". As I am deaf and rely on hearing aids to amplify sound I quickly beat a hasty retreat!

Just above the fog siren is a stone memorial to honour the lost seafarers of our Merchant Navy. A plaque explained that the location was chosen as it is the closest land in the United Kingdom to ocean going ships. There are two poppy wreaths attached to the memorial base and these were the first ones I have seen with poppies of different colours - presumably the blue ones being a reference to the sea?