2012 Blantyre Muir Aerial Photo
Wartime Records indicate that a World War II Starfish decoy site was located north of Blantyre Muir, east of East Kilbride in the Southern part of Blantyre. It was part of the Clyde AA Defences and was also known as Lodgehill, or Parknewk.
Starfish was the codename given to a system of Special Fire or SF decoys established early in World War II.
Created by Colonel Sir John F Turner, Royal Engineers, a number of different ground based decoys were established around the country, with the intention of deceiving enemy bombers and reconnaissance aircraft.
The site was visible in aerial photographs taken by the RAF in 1945, with a control bunker nearby. The bunker location was given as Parkneuk, NGR NS664533 (55.7546°N -4.1303°W).
There now appears to be no remaining evidence of the decoy site or its control bunker. An aerial photographic survey carried out in 1988 indicated that the decoy site had been destroyed by opencast mining works, with spoil heaps and vehicle tracks obliterating any potential remains, although the bunker entrance was still visible. On Google Earth, the bunker entrance appears to have been lost to expansion of the works on the south side of Newhousemill Road, near the works entrance.