{"id":5445,"date":"2015-03-08T17:30:07","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T17:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/?page_id=204"},"modified":"2025-10-05T16:41:02","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T15:41:02","slug":"whangaparaoa-coastal-battery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk\/gazetteersubsite\/whangaparaoa-coastal-battery\/","title":{"rendered":"Whangaparaoa Coastal Battery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello to everyone in the Pillbox Study Group<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am an archaeologist working for the Auckland Regional Council in New Zealand and recently undertook a survey a coastal defence battery (2\u00d76 and 2\u00d79.2 inch guns) in the Whangaparaoa Defence Area, north of Auckland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The approaches to the battery are defended by 11 pillboxes which generally conform to a standard design for the NZ Northern Defence Region C\/-1942. These are reinforced concrete emplacements (concrete is 12\u2033 thick) for LMG\u2019s, 13\u20196\u2033 x 11\u20196\u2033 x 9\u2032, rear 2\/3rds being rectangular and the front third being hexagonal with 3-5 embrasures (5 being uncommon). The embrasures are 12\u2033 x 24\u2033 x 12\u2033, widening to 30\u2033 in the front from the 8\u2033 mark. The roofs were reinforced by an extra six-inches of concrete sitting atop iron supports. Entry was by a door in right-hand wall, rear third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guns themselves sat on wooden tables and wooden bunks covered the rear wall (the interior walls were covered in \u201cpinex\u201d chipboard) \u2013 two of the pillboxes (\u201ckilo\u201d and \u201clupo\u201d) are atypical in having separate bunk-room in the rear, and Lupo is the only one with 5 embrasures. The pillboxes were built on\/into slopes (probably by cut-and-fill).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pillbox Kilo<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Three Embrasures With Rear Bunk-room<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pillbox Lupo<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Five Embrasures With Rear Bunk-room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pillbox Salo<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Three Embrasure<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 6.2 Inch Coastal Battery Emplacement<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With Frying Pan Lid<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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40mm Bofors AA Emplacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was wondering whether someone might be able to tell me how these relate to British designs, since most of the shore defences in NZ were based on\/adapted from British plans and their construction generally overseen by British experts (excluding underground works whose size and shape were based on standard NZ railway tunnel workings).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A gentleman by the name of Peter Cooke has just written the definitive account of NZ coastal defences: \u201cDefending New Zealand \u2013 Ramparts on the Sea 1940-1950s\u201d \u2013 Its enormous, a large format 900 pages with copious maps, figures and images. If you have access to a decent library inter-loan service it might well be worth having a look at as it covers everything from AA installations to pillboxes, coastal batteries and anti-sub indicator loop facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for your time. Jonathan Carpenter, Archaeologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E-Mail: Jonath<\/a>an Carpenter<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello to everyone in the Pillbox Study Group I am an archaeologist working for the Auckland Regional Council in New Zealand and recently undertook a survey a coastal defence battery (2\u00d76 and 2\u00d79.2 inch guns) in the Whangaparaoa Defence Area, north of Auckland. The approaches to the battery are defended by 11 pillboxes which generally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[996],"tags":[103,302,301],"class_list":["post-5445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-battery","tag-coastal","tag-whangaparaoa","czr-hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t