Odd little pillbox

This box is on the Wiltshire/Somerset border at Farleigh Hungerford.As far as I can ascertain it is a one off, built to no recognisable type number.It is buried in the bank of a sunken lane overlooking a bridge over the river Frome and is the smallest box I have seen It's internal measurement being no more than about 7 foot square,obviously no ricochet wall and only one embrasure also of an odd size being about 3ft-6in square.Set in the other 3 walls were what I assume were ready use ammo lockers which looked about the right size to take a metal case of ammo.Set in the floor is a ring of holdfast bolts about 20ins in diameter so the box must have contained a fairly substantial weapon,with a weapon + crew it must have been extremely cramped.Main walls of the box were at least 3 foot thick but the roof was really an unknown quantity.As far as I know this box was part of the Salisbury stop line.

1 The entrance this was high enough to walk in without really having to duck



2 Closer view of the entrance



3 From inside looking at the entrance dog leg.the outside walls were curiously made of bricks laid vertically



4 General shot of the interior showing one of the ammo lockers these were all about 30 ins wide 18ins tall and about 16 ins deep



5 The embrasure



6 A close up of a ammo locker {sorry about the rude word I didn't spot it until I got home}



7 The holdfast



8 Close up of holdfast



9 another close up



10 The box is well hidden and can just be seen behind the main tree but in the hedge on the skyline



11 The river crossing it was built to protect



No external shots as I wasn't dressed for grovelling through embrasures and there was no other way to get to the front of the thing

DOB says it's a type 26 and there is a typw 24 nearby. Mind you it looks interesting to the north between Wellow brook and the Frome as there is a ditch marked. The Brook is lined whth pillboxes if they are still there. as well. Want a hand.

I'm fairly sure that this was intended as a 6 pounder gun emplacement Oldscrote. We were a bit short of this weapon and I believe a 2 pounder may have been used instead.

I've seen several gun emplacements on the Taunton stopline and they vary in design. TL 55 is the type given by the War office record.

I think this one is similar to the one you've found

http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/details.asp?prn=55225

This is another one further north and quite different but does still have it's holdfast,

Thanks for the replies to this, If it is a type 26 then it's much modified in design to fit the site.The TL 55 looks closer in basic design of embrasure and Munches picture of the extant holdfast looks spot on for size,I didn't know they looked like that I assumed it was all one piece with the gun.The ammo locker in the same picture looks to be the same size as well.

Night crawler I think I know of the ditch you mean it's in Hogg wood to the back of Freshford up towards the A36.Apparently there are three pillboxes associated with it one on each turn of the ditch.Whereabouts at Farleigh Hungerford is the type 24 my sadly underpowered PC crashes every time I try to look at the data base.

I looked up the type on the DOB I can send you a map of the defences in the area if you like. PM me your email.