Key facts
- Â Constructed by `Burbridge builders` of East Horsley, Surrey
- Pre-fabricated design constructed to meet available materials
- Built from a standard 4 feet diameter concrete pipe
- Rotating concrete turret located on top of pipe
- Accommodated 2 riflemen or a bren gunner and no 2!
- Extremely cramped conditions!
- Sunk into ground at such locations as road junctions to give maximum protection and concealment with only 13 inches of the structure protruding above ground level
- Additionally it could be mounted on a vehicle or as an addition to a conventional pillbox.
Tett turrets at RAF Hornchurch, Essex
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Hornchurch Tett Turret. NGR: TQ 5384
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Hornchurch Tett Turret. NGR: TQ 5384
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Hornchurch Tett Turret. NGR: TQ 5384
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Hornchurch Tett Turret. NGR: TQ 5384
- Hornchurch Tett Turret. NGR: TQ 5384
- Hornchurch Tett Turret. NGR: TQ 5384
- Hornchurch Tett Turret. NGR: TQ 5384
- Hornchurch Tett Turret. NGR: TQ 5384
The former airfield at RAF Hornchurch in Essex boasts the largest concentration of surviving tett turrets in the country. This ultra rare form of one-man pillbox would have been extremely cramped and restrictive for the guy inside! Thankfully the surviving tett turrets at Hornchurch are in relatively good condition; the outer rims and gun embrasures are still intact.
One of the tett turrets was excavated by the BBC ‘Two Men in a Trench’ team, whose efforts exposed the original crawlway. A pair of WW2 goggles were found inside. As you can see from my photographs it has been hollowed out inside and now rests on bricks. The concrete pipe of a second tett turret nearby is completely full of earth.
The former airfield is accessible to everybody and has other surviving relics, namely four good-condition pillboxes, an anti-aircraft pit, aircraft dispersal bay and compass setting point, two in-tact E-Pens, air raid shelters and what may be some anti-glider cylinders.
By Julieanne Savage