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Key facts Information obtained from pillbox typology part 2 in Loopholes journal of the PSG. With kind permission of Mike Osborne. FW3/24 Shellproof This type can be found along the route of GHQ Line A in Hampshire and Line B in Surrey with all walls built to a thickness of 51″, examples […]
Out now the Spotter’s guide to pilboxes, a 52 page booklet which attempts to “explain the presence of the thousands of pillboxes still to be seen across the countryside and along the coasts.”Available only from the Pillbox Study Group.Get your copy by sending a Cheque for £5 (made out to […]
On a PC running windows. Download the .kmz file to a known location on your computer e.g. c:\downloads or anywhere else that suits you. Open Google Earth (you will need the desktop version, not the web version) on a P.C., not a phone or tablet. Go to the file menu […]
As soon as I saw this almost ruin I just knew it had to be saved, not only for future generations, but also as part of the history of our small village Elstow near Bedford. Elstow was the birth place of John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrims Progress. Whilst taking part […]
How to set up your Anderson Shelter Download a PDF of these instructions
From the Manual OF Field Engineering Vol. 1 (All Arms) 1933 comes a description of how and when to build the type of emplacement described here. CHAPTER IX. PROTECTIVE WORKS 36. Machine-gun emplacements 1. General. In mobile warfare there will seldom be time or material for elaborate emplacements, and guns […]
Constructing Winterton-On-Sea’s WWII Anti-Invasion Defences A Personal Perspective, By John Green MBE I am recalling these events from 60 years ago but can assure you that they are as accurate as possible. The Company who did the construction work was: May Gurney & Co Ltd, Construction Engineers, Trowse, Norwich. This company […]
Ngr SU832554 This type 22 variant pillbox situated alongside the main south coast line at Cove near Farnborough would have given all round fire covering the adjacent railway bridge and Cove Rd. Its position is close to Fleet Pond bridge and also faces northwest on to the A3013 Fleet to […]
ROF Type The ROF type is a bespoke design only found at Royal Ordnance depots and factories. It is a small square pillbox with distinctive long narrow embrasures in each wall. The door is low and usually covered by a porch with a slightly angled roof. The long narrow embrasure […]
Pentagonal Pillboxes Pentagonal pillboxes, as the name suggests, are regular pentagons in shape. This general type appears to be an Air Ministry design as the remaining examples are only found on or close to airfields, there are 19 examples still extant. Some examples have embrasures in all the faces with […]
Lozenge Pillbox The lozenge type is found only in the Northeast of England. The type is an elongated hexagon in shape with long front and rear walls and two short angled walls at either end. The entrance is offset from the centre of the rear wall and is covered […]
Lincolnshire Three Bay The Lincolnshire three bay pillbox is a variant form of the FW3/23. Essentially it is two of that type placed back to back and sharing an AAMG well to create a rectangular pillbox approximately 6.5m long and 2.5m wide with three fighting compartments. The two enclosed chambers […]
Essex Lozenge This type is unique to the Essex coastline and is purpose designed to command the flat lying land around the estuaries. It is an elongated octagon in shape having three angled faces of approximately 2m length at either end and 7m long sidewalls allowing the pillbox to straddle […]
Eastern Command Type This Type is almost unique to Essex (two exist north of Cambridge) and only occur on the main Eastern Command line. It is an Infantry variant of the Vickers Machine Gun Emplacement (VMG), being square in plan with external walls 4m in length. The front corners are […]
Eared Pillbox This pillbox gets its name from its unusual entrance arrangement which from some angles suggests it has ears. This type is only found in the North East along the stretch of coast between Scarborough and Withernsea. The design is intended to house two Vickers Machineguns in an […]
Dover Quad Pillbox The Dover Quad pillbox has a square plan and is 4m on a side. It has an overhanging concrete slab roof supported on 8 pillars, one at each corner and in the centre of each wall. This creates 8 wide embrasures offering minimal protection to the occupants […]
Northumberland “D†Type This variant is only found in Northumberland and 17 examples are known to exist. The name comes from the shape of the pillbox. It superficially resembles a Type 24 in that it is an irregular hexagon with three front faces and a long back wall, but […]
Hexagonal with central LAA / Observation well. This is usually found in two sizes: One with walls of 11′ 7″ (3.5m) and the other with walls of 9′ 9″ (3m) Instead of the high level doors through to the central well, there is usually a full-height door in an angle […]
Wooler To Belford This is the most northerly stop line in the county of Northumberland and as such probably the most northerly in England. It stretches from the town of Wooler in the west to the coast just past Belford in the east, an area of basically moorland and rough […]
It’s not often that one finds a truly “new” pillbox these days (I know all of them are 60+ years old), but even rarer that a “new” name for a pillbox is uncovered. This is the story of how that came about, thanks to the Pillbox Study Group, Defence of […]
The F.C. Construction Type are also variously termed “Mushroom” due to its shape or “Oakington” & “Fairlop” Pillboxes, probably because examples are present on both these airfields. The type seems to be confined to airfields apparently being found predominantly in the eastern counties of Britain. When Henry Wills wrote “Pillboxes” […]
eDoB Online Map – S0012601 Louise Manuell takes a photographic tour of this very unusual defence structure. NGR: TR 05283 67630
Survey Report Introduction On 29th May 2010, Colin Anderson and Ian Hall carried out a survey of the Auxiliary Unit (Special Duties) Zero Station at Heifer Law, near Alnwick. This report provides an overview of what was found during the survey. Thanks must go to Northumberland Estates, the landowners of […]
Site Name: Portsmouth , Old City Airport Site Type: Defence > Pickett-Hamilton Retractable Pillbox NGR: SU 6732-0390 Location: On sea wall between remnant of former moat to Hilsea Lines, retained as a drainage channel for former airport and present housing estate (since this dig this has become a community of […]
Following an appeal for help on the (old) Pillbox Study Group forum from Paul Thompson, four of us met up on August 17th 2008 to clean up 3 pillboxes located at Beal farm on the Northumberland Coast, overlooking the causeway to Holy Island. The first of these is a rectangular […]
East Yorkshire by Austin J Ruddy The Holderness area of East Yorkshire stretches 30 miles from Flamborough Head in the north to Spurn Head in the south, and 20 miles inland past Hull, along the river Humber. It is predominantly rural landscape, gently undulating, made up of loamy glacial soil, […]
By The Lincolnshire Aircraft Recovery Group The remains of the Bison were found at Sleaford where it had been a familiar land mark to many and a playground item to many children over the last 50 years. However, few could have known its historical value. Indeed, only around 200 were […]
Northumberland ‘Beehive’ Pillboxes Edlingham It is located half way between Alnwick and Rothbury on the B6341 road, NGR: NU 12435 09377. It is close to the edge of the road by a small lay-by but unless you know where it is you’ll easily miss it. The site is in […]
Key Facts See Poynings Flame Fougasse page for more details