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Remains of a spigot mortar. A motley mounting, it probably would have covered the Don Valley (possibly) and railway lines. As part of the anti-invasion defences of World War Two the Home Guard were issued with the Spigot Mortar, in the hope that they could hold up an enemy advance. Normally Spigot Mortars would be placed in pairs on the approach roads into towns at road crossings and bridges. This surviving mounting and pivot for a Spigot Mortar is in the corner of the graveyard of the former Free Church in Dyce. It would have provided defensive fire across the railway line and the Don Valley. The frame would have been covered in concrete, providing a solid mounting for the spigot. The mortar would then sit on a protruding stainless steel pivot. The spigot could either fire a 20lb anti-tank projectile or a 14lb anti-personnel projectile. Some contemporary accounts suggest that the smoke produced when firing projectiles limited its usefulness to 'one shot and that's it'. The Spigot Mortar was an inefficient piece of sub-artillery because it had no barrel to load; the projector was plugged directly into the firing pin, reducing the ideal range to hit a moving tank to 100 yards.
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Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Aberdeen City
HER -
NJ81SE0099 - DYCE FREE CHURCH