Marks of Time
Historic Buildings as  illustrations of the past.
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The Second World War

By 1939, the city  had endured  twenty years of depression, but the loss of France was to change all that as the convoys  from America to  Britain had to divert to the  North   Atlantic route making the city the  first port at the end of a  hazardous crossing.  It was quickly  upgraded to become a  major repair and supply base. American technicians,  housed initially at  Ebrington Barracks, constructed new wharves at Lisahally   and helped construct  a string of new airfields along the eastern edge of  Lough Foyle.   This small machine gun  emplacement located opposite Lisahally is an  artefact frozen in time. Made of  sandbags filled with concrete it is much as it  was in the 1940s.

Dill House in the grounds of Magee College became the military  headquarters  in the city. Led by the Navy, the base was known as HMS Ferret and was reputed to have a secret bunker under the lawns, which could command the 'Western Approaches' should Liverpool be put out of action.
 
   

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