At the coast of Baiona, in the neighborhood of Baredo, lies the remains of Batería Militar de Silleiro. It was built in 1923 using cannons from the battleship España, launched in 1913 and scuttled at the cape of Tres Forcas. The cannons of the battleship España were reused and placed on the mountain of Silleiro, which was hollowed out with a network of tunnels.
Around 1940, another cannon was added to defend the entrance of the ría de Vigo. Construction involved represaliados republicanos. It was completed in 1943. The land on which it was built belonged to the neighborhood of Baredo, without any compensation being received. It was used between 1940 and 1969, although the soldiers of the last garrison abandoned the installations in 1998.
Batería Militar de Silleiro was part of the defensive system formed by the batteries of the Grove (J1), Monteferro (J3) and A Guía (J6). In 2021, the council bought the land from the Ministry of Defense.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nik Frost
Discuss this with the author and others
No comments yet. Be the first to start the conversation.