Variant And Local Designs | The Pillbox Study Group Website.

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Allan-Williams Turret

Key facts Allan-Williams Turrets at Bembridge Fort, Isle of Wight in 1988Photographs Kevin Briggs

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Aldershot Command’s 2 – Pounder Emplacement

GHQ Line B Anti Tank Defence. By Tim Denton. This design of anti tank emplacement is unique and can only be found on GHQ Line B between Elstead and west of the A3 at Peper Harow in Surrey, each defence covers wide open fields as well as important road […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Aldershot Command’s 8-Sided Pillbox

Hampshire and Surrey Bullet Proof Variant. Ten examples of this bullet proof pillbox survive making it one of the rarest local designs found within Aldershot Command in both Hampshire and Surrey. Similar in appearance to a standard type 22 this small defence has eight sides instead of six, the majority […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Beehive Pillbox

Key Facts See The Northumberland Beehive Pillbox for more details

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Bison Mobile Pillbox

Key Facts

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Cuckmere MG Emplacement

Cuckmere Haven Variant Machine Gun Emplacements There are three of this local design variant to be found within the Seven Sisters country park near Seaford in East Sussex, two are accessible and the other is sealed with a door. The specification is similar to a standard Vickers Machine gun emplacement with […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Cuckmere Mini Pillbox Variants

Cuckmere Haven’s One Man Pillbox Variants Ngr TV520977 and 521977 Within the Seven Sisters country park there are two very small and easily missed miniature pillboxes, both are highly unusual and possibly one man defence posts. .Sitting in the side of the east valley this small rectangular defence is partially covered by […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Dover Quad

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 […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Dorset Square Variant

Woodsford Castle Defence, Dorchester. SY758903 This square and somewhat part disguised pillbox is built into the garden wall of Woodsford Castle near Warmwell Airfield and Dorchester, this defence once formed part of the Southern Command, Dorchester to Poole Stop Line. PSG Graham Matthews recorded the unusual design for the […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Eastern Command Type

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 […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Eared Pillbox

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 […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Essex Lozenge

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 […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

EXDO Posts

Extended Defence Officer Posts The function of EXDO (or, equally valid for this context. XDO) in the Royal Navy dates from April 3rd 1914 when the duty of so called `submarine mining` passed from the R.E.s to the R.N. The first such unit to transfer and be joined (i.e. re-badged) […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Gosport Rectangular Pillbox

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Hayling Island Rectangular Pillbox

This unusually tall rectangular pillbox can be found beside the A3023 Havant Rd at Hayling Island a short distance after leaving Langstone Bridge. This defence is a one offÂ design and was constructed to shellproof specification with 3ft thick walls, the pillbox shares some similar build detailsÂ as found on two […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Lincolnshire 3 Bay

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 […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Lozenge Pillbox

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 […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Marlborough Mini Pillbox

Wiltshire’s Smallest Pillbox. Ngr SU188692 Most people walking down Kingsbury StreetÂ in Marlborough wouldnâ€™t give it a second glance but this mini pillbox is unique and very unusual. First appearing In Henry Wills â€œPillboxesâ€ in 1985 the mini defence appears to have been built over a bricked up doorway leading to […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Mowlem 6 Pounder Drum Pillbox Shalford Surrey

Tillingbourne Brook, East Shalford Lane, Ngr TQ 012474 On a section of GHQ Line B near Shalford in Surrey is a badly deteriorating, but still highly interesting drum shaped anti tank gun emplacement. Postioned on the edge of a woods and a gentle slope facing south west, its map […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Mushroom Pillbox

Key Facts Circular Design 360 degree field of fire low profile Gun mounted on railed mounting Usually found on Airfields More details and examples here

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Norcon Pillbox Type CP/6/40/111

Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Key Facts Pre-cast concrete pipe 6 feet in diameter with 4 inch thick wall After casting it was deemed to be bullet-proof in 24 hours Weighed 32 cwt Constructed without the use of steel re-inforcing and relied on sandbags for internal protection of occupants Normally 4 feet high with […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

North Downs Way Shellproof Type 24 Variant.

FW3/24 at Great Copse, Ranmore Common, Surrey. Sequence number 86 – NGR TQ125495. Continuing on the North Downs another unusual built pillbox can be found south of Great Copse near Ranmore Common. This modified type 24 sits at the edge of a very steep forward drop which continues around to […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

North Downs Way Tall Type 24

This tall but slim profile type 24 can be found beside the North Downs Way above Wotton in Surrey. On GHQ Line B Bullet proof pillboxes disappear between Hurtmore and re-emerge on the slopes above Brockham East of Dorking so this strange shaped bullet proof type 24 appears out of […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

North Downs Way Unusual Variant

Shellproof defenceÂ built for site,Wotton,Surrey. Ngr TQ121494 Along the route of the North Downs WayÂ between Newlands Corner and Ranmore there are dozens of pillboxes that formedÂ the defensive back boneÂ on the Surrey Hills , mostÂ of the defences are Shell proof Type 24s but there are variations on how some were finished. […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs part 1 A - N

Northumberland D Type

Northumberland â€œDâ€ 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 […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

Open Machine Gun Positions

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 […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

Pentagonal Pillbox

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 […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

Pickett-Hamilton Fort

Key Facts The ‘Lifting & Turning Fort’ In the summer of 1940 many engineering companies approached government departments with plans for defence structures designed to their own specifications. The New Kent Construction Company of Ashford, submitted plans for a “disappearing pillbox” for airfield defence to the designs of Donald Hamilton […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

Pillbox Gun Mounts

Turnbull Mounts Turnbull mounts were not exclusively used for mounting Vickers machine-guns but Brens, Lewis, water cooled Brownings and Hotchkiss MGs could all be used, there was even a request from Bovington if a gun bar could be designed for there Besa Machine guns. I suspect in fact that Bren […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

Pre-Fab Pillbox

Key Facts

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

QF Six Pounder Open Gun Emplacement

The hexagonal Anti-tank gun emplacement or gun pit as it can also be called is one of the more rarely found defences. Working in conjunction with pillboxes as well as trenches and roadblocks they were primarily positioned to cover points of strategic importance such as road, railway, canal and […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

ROF pillbox variants

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 […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

Seagull Trench

Airfield Defence Pillbox The first thing that people say when they see a Seagull Trench is “Look at the size of that”! With overall dimensions of approximately 70ft X 13ft it is not surprising that this `Airfield Defence Pillbox` is something to get excited about! Paul Francis, Airfield Archaeologist, wrote […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

Surrey’s Mowlem Type 24 Drum

Along GHQ Line B south of Guildford between Godalming and Chilworth there are eighteen unique shaped pillboxes that were constructed by J Mowlem builders. The Mowlem Company built the defences in their own style, for ease and speed they substituted the normal procedure of using bricks for permanent shuttering for […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

Tett Turret

Key facts Tett turrets at RAF Hornchurch, Essex 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 […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

Two Storey & Tower Pillbox Designs

Rare and unusual designs normally built for a specific location where observation and a clear view of fire was essential and not necessarily possible with a standard design of pillbox. Bulletproof Double Storey Pillbox, Slaugham, West Sussex. S0008043 TQ 249277 This brick shuttered two level defence can be found facing east at […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

Triumph Motorbike Pillbox

Under all that 1/4″ steel plate is a Triumph WO-3SW cica 1939 350cc single side valve. Possiblly the slowest bike in the war at now over 600lbs! The B&W photos of the original bike (they only made one) where taken in the summer of 1940. Sean Walsh

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

Vickers Factory Pillbox.

Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, Surrey. TQ 0699562943 This small and unique six sided pillbox can be found within the Brooklands Museum at Weybridge in Surrey close to other British icons such as Concorde and the VC10, althoughÂ it canÂ be seen close up it is currentlyÂ inaccessible and has a locked door. […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

Vickers Machine Gun Emplacement

Key Facts Build variations can be found with different positioning of secondary loopholes and air vent, length and thickness of blastwall and design of main gun table. The highest concentrations of the Vickers MMG emplacement can be found on the Taunton Stop line and GHQ Line A and B in […]

Variant And Local Designs Variant and Local Designs Part 2 O - Z

Yarnold Sangar

Key Facts No doubt many of you will have noticed the large number of Concrete `Pipe` type pillboxes sprouting in military establishments during the last few years. In my experience they appear to be mainly used by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, though I have no doubt that […]