At the coast of Baiona, in the neighborhood of Baredo, lies the remains of Bateria J4, also known as the Coast Battery J4 of Cape Silleiro. It was built in 1923 using cannons from the Spanish battleship España, launched in 1913 and scuttled after the Rif War. Before this, the cannons were stored on Mont de Silleiro, which was hollowed out with a network of tunnels. After the Spanish Civil War, around 1940, another cannon was added to defend the entrance of Ria de Vigo.
Construction involved Republican prisoners. It was completed in 1943. The land on which it was built belonged to the Baredo neighborhood, but they received no compensation. It was used from 1940 to 1969, although the last soldiers abandoned the installations in 1998. Bateria J4 was part of the defensive system that included the batteries of the Grove (J1), Cape Udra (J2), Monteferro (J3) and A Guía (J6). In 2021, the Baiona City Council bought the land FROM the Ministry of Defense.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nik Frost
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