Home Front
Civil Air raid shelter built into bank. entrance hidden by hedge. emergency exit in concrete slab next to building at far end.
Type 22 now preserved in the new housing estate. The grilles on the loopholes look rather out of place but at least it’s still there. This pillbox will shortly be in the middle of a large new housing estate.
See WW2 Airfield Battle Headquarters (battlehq.info) for more information about Airfield Battle HQs
PILLBOX (TYPE FW3/22): S0015722 (Extant)
This unusual pillbox was in the grounds of a large Victorian house until that was demolished and replaced by at least 14 modern houses. A planning condition was imposed that the pillbox must be preserved, enhanced and protected during and after the building works. This was done and the pillbox […]
This pillbox used to have a corrugated iron roof structure above as camouflage.
The maps below clearly show this pillbox to be in the location shown on google earth for S0004624. Mike Osborne’s book “Pillboxes of Britain and Ireland” shows a picture on page 148 which appears to be this pillbox but gives a grid ref which matches S0004824. It is possible that […]
Type 24 pillbox on verge of Brampton Road above station. About 50m E of junction with B 1354. The pillbox faces E. In corner of John Gaunt School playing field, near railway station and railway bridge, Aylsham.
Once again it appears the pictures have not aged very well and there are no negatives to scan.
Rear of Bruce Building, Haymarket, Newcastle Upon Tyne. This firewatchers post has survived a major renovation to the Bruce building during which it was removed and stored away from the site. Unfortunately it was rotated by 90 degrees when refitted. These pictures were taken during a visit shortly before the […]
Just to the south side of southbound platform of elevated tube station and before District Line trains cross River Thames. Pillbox is multi-sided and of two storeys – lower storey has doorway in west side and one embrasure. Upper storey projects westwards beyond lower storey and has a doorway on […]
Looking through a packet of photographs, I came across two of a two storey, or elevated, pillbox and one of a ford escort next to a large building. I wasn’t sure if the picture with the Escort in was connected at this stage. I posted the two of the pillbox […]
featuring Variant pillbox S0006529 at middle left.
This one is still extant and appears in good condition.
S0006362 This Type 22 with no ricochet wall and an external blast wall is still extant and in very good condition.
This small pillbox appears most likely to be S0013698. Marked as removed in the EODBD overlay.
8 photos over a page and a half in the  photo album included in the collection show 3 different pillboxes in Bridgewater, Somerset. Two of them were easily identified using the EDOBD overlay for google Earth. The third is proving more difficult as there is nothing on the overlay that […]
Two variant Pillboxes at Kew Railway Bridge, London. The Pillbox as it appears today The pillbox below is described as –Polygonal concrete-faced pillbox, of a particular design for railway linesides. Embrasures providing all-round fire. Front wall is a chamfered corner. Field of fire from two angled walls and side walls. […]
This Type 24 appears not to be listed in the DOB or EDOB databases. Update 21/6/2020 it now appears as PILLBOX (TYPE FW3/24): e41998 The photos in the gallery below don’t appear to have aged very well and quite a lot of work has gone into recovering as much detail […]
The third set of photo’s I decided to scan showed this curious, double decker, pillbox. Checking out it’s location on the google Earth EDOB overlay showed nothing. A bout of old OS 1″ map viewing, Streetviewing and google mapping later I came up with the last view in the gallery. […]
Demolition Practice Site, Swinley Forest, Berkshire. NGR SU882638 This is an incredible find which is not on the Defence of Britain Database or anywhere else I have looked. I had a conversation in November 2001 with a Forest Ranger in Swinley Forest when I was looking for some reported bunkers, […]
Belfast, Northern Island. Grey Point is located in the village of Helen’s Bay off the main Belfast to Bangor road on the coast of Belfast lough east of Belfast. It is tucked a little out of the way but is reasonably sign posted on Fort Road. From official guide book. […]
The first one is at the side of the A198 between Port Seton and Aberlady and is very overgrown. There are two large blocks, one with slots and one with holes both flanked by normal tank cubes. The second pic is again at the side of the A198, this time […]
COAST ARTILLERY BATTERY: S0015240
North Wales OS Sheet: 124. GRID: SH 5650 – 3730 A few months ago I decided that a day at the seaside would be a great idea. I hadn’t been to the Porthmadog part of Wales for about 20 years and so I had no idea that I was to find […]
This site has absolutely nothing to do with Conway, Gwynedd, it is part of the Western Command Carmarthen Stop Line, which runs from Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, in the south, to Llangrannog, Ceredigion, in the north. The village name is Cynwyl Elfed and I’m afraid Philip Knight’s information is, perhaps, not entirely […]
Point Of Ayr is located along the North Wales coast at the tip of land on the western side of the Dee Estuary. It has a wonderful lighthouse positioned on the wide flat beach about 150m off the line of sand dunes that run for miles along this part of […]
Pickett-Hamilton Fort The former WWII airfield at Llandow, South Wales, has recently been earmarked for development, and many of the surviving wartime structures are likely to be destroyed. One such structure was the top half of a Pickett-Hamilton Fort. I spoke to the owners who said I could have it. In […]
Kevin Briggs from Monmouth, has kindly sent in photographs he took in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The Defence Structures are to be found on the western side of the River Severn. Type 22 Pillbox @ Magor (1987) Grid: ST 4130-8680 Note the very unusual concrete plinths that protrude above each […]
‘Pen-Y-Gwryd Hotel’ Snowdonia, North Wales OS Sheet: 115 (Snowdon) I wonder how many visitors to the Snowdonia National Park pass these Pillboxes every year without even giving them a second glance. Those that do acknowledge their existence probably give no more than “What on earth is a Pillbox doing up […]
Sea Front Type 26 Ngr TQ 098 015 A restored but completely sealed Type 26 pillbox can be found on the seafront promenade at Ferring, West Sussex. By Mark Harley
An Un Recorded Hexagonal Gun Pit in Wiltshire Ngr: su 236 632 While out looking at the bridges on the Kennet and Avon canal I came across this excellent hexagonal 6 pounder gun pit. On passing by and catching a glimpse of what seemed like concrete i decided to pull over to investigate further. […]
Surviving Defences around the C.A.D Monkton Farleigh, Wiltshire. During the 1930s there was a requirement for secure storage for munitions throughout Great Britain. Three main CAD or Central Ammunition Depots were created , north of England Longton Cumbria, the midlands Nesscliffe in Shropshire and one in the south which became […]
NGR: NZ 394 694 Tynemouth Priory Haven Beach Light is located on the north-side of the harbour at Tynemouth. It would have covered the sea over Priory Haven and the main harbour towards South Shields. A Gun Battery and ruined priory are located on the cliff above. by Stephen Lewins […]
Abbey Fields, Kenilworth, Warwickshire. The Abbey Fields air raid shelters I have enclosed some pictures of the air raid shelters in and around the Abbey Fields in Kenilworth. Starting at the war memorial at the top of the Abbey Fields we followed Forrest Road to the left and down the […]
Clifton upon Dunsmore Stent Pillbox Ngr SP523758 After spending the day in Rugby researching some family history I decided to have a look for the stent pillbox in Clifton upon Dunsmore in Warwickshire which I found quite easily courtesy of Steve Carvells book. Looking through the loophole from the towpath […]
The Warwick Times from February 2008. The following article was written by Lise Evans after reading Steve Carvell’s book Twentieth-Century Defences in Warwickshire. Thanks to Lise Evans and Steve Carvell for giving the Pillbox Study Group a big mention in the article. Graham G Matthews PSG Webmaster.
Goodrest Farm, Bannerhill, Kenilworth. NGR SP275693 Along with some friends I travelled to Kenilworth to take a look at the heavy anti-aircraft site at Goodrest Farm, Bannerhill just off Rouncil Lane to the east of the town. In 1940 the heavy anti-aircraft battery [or HAA] known as Bannerhill Camp, was […]
The pictures show some of the anti-tank blocks that can be found along the disused LMS railway line that once stretched between Leamington Spa and Rugby. They are also described in the missing defences section of the PSG website, This is the individual block as described by Steven Carvell, two […]
Decoy Site War Walk at Offchurch Having decided to visit the bombing decoy site at Offchurch we travelled eastwards along the grand union canal towards Radford Semele so we could have a quick look at the type 24 pillbox, which is located on the non-towpath side of the canal at […]
A Collection of Roadblock Cylinders and Rails. These road block components were found along Brownsover Lane just off the A246 near Rugby. A group of cylinders covered in moss were laying on a fields edge just beside a right hand bend. Continuing down the lane towards the Ambulance station a further cylinder […]
Churnet Stop-Line, Cheddleton, Staffordshire I enclose a couple of pix of the remains of a FW3/22? at Cheddleton in Staffs by a bridge on the Churnet stop line. You can see the drill holes for the charges: this chunk was left as it formed a low wall above the canal. […]
The snaps are self explanatory and are of the old air field at Lichfield now called called Fradley Park. When I stopped to take the initial Pillbox, I discovered one under the cover of the Canal Bridge. Since I was now dressed to go field walking, I only took them […]
The lake was built in 1797 to provide water for the canal system and is strictly a reservoir rather than a lake. It was of prime importance during WWII as it’s destruction would have severely affected the ability of the important canal network to have remained operational. To this end […]