Pillboxes in the vicinity of Weybourne Camp (North Norfolk)

Derelict Places

Help Support Derelict Places:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

hamishsfriend

Veteran Member
Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
249
Reaction score
503
Location
Norfolk
There are quite a few old structures still standing in the grounds of the camp, now a museum. Sadly, many of the pillboxes and gun emplacements located outside the camp have been destroyed. It is possible to walk alongside the perimeter fence, starting by the car park on the beach at Weybourne Hope, and to explore the pillboxes etc along the cliff path, in adjoining fields or beside the tracks and paths that traverse this area.

2403254_3581a2c3.jpg


During WWI the Weybourne Camp was an Army coastal defence base. Weybourne Camp became an anti-aircraft artillery range (and a highly secret site) during WWII, which, in combination with a complementary camp at Stiffkey, represented the main live firing training ranges for ACK-ACK Command. According to reports, demonstrations given on occasion of a visit to the camp by the then Prime Minister Winston Churchill, repeatedly ended in failure, the perhaps worst being that a Queen Bee pilotless target aircraft was shot down and crashed close to the VIP enclosure. Apparently all the senior staff were replaced the following day. The site remained an anti-aircraft artillery base until 1958 and the RAF still maintains a radar station within the area.

Here is some interesting information:
http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue//ad...on/pdf/Text_Reports/DA41_TEXT_-_WEYBOURNE.pdf

The site is currently owned by the Muckleburgh Collection, so called because of the proximity to Muckleburgh Hill. Opened to the public in 1988 the Muckleburgh Collection is the largest privately-owned military museum in the United Kingdom. Many of the old buildings and defence structures are still in place, some are dotted about outside the perimeter fence. Others are located close or right beside the fence and can be seen from the footpath leading around the site.

The first pillbox encountered was this square one which sits on top of a low cliff, deeply buried in the sand with only the embrasure facing the sea still to be seen. DOB site reference: S0001051.

x0.jpg


Nearby is a type 22 pillbox, completely broken up by the sea. Its red brick shuttered walls were 600mm thick. DOB site reference: S0001052.

2403336_93f4b352.jpg


From the beach one can see the weather station with a pillbox, a gun emplacement and an observation post on the hill below it. and a little further back there is what I believe to be the former wireless station. There are also a couple of communication (?) masts. Something up there emits strange whistling noises.

2403372_8fc541bc.jpg


2403699_5fb26264.jpg


This pillbox by Kelling Hard has landed on the beach where it is in the process of being covered by shingle. It was surrounded by tubular beach scaffolding projecting from the shingle but this has been completely covered over. It ran in front of the pillbox and was added after it was built. The interior of the pillbox is almost entirely filled with shingle and other debris. Names can be seen carved into the bricks by the entrance.

x2.jpg


x6.jpg


x3.jpg


x4.jpg


x8.jpg


At Kelling Hard a public footpath turns off, leading inland. A pillbox can be seen beside this track, about halfway up the hill.

x10.jpg


x9.jpg


A short distance higher up, still following the track that leads along the camp's perimeter fence, are the remains of a pillbox. It used to look over the Quag. The village seen in the background is Salthouse.

x13.jpg


x12.jpg


On the other side of the perimeter fence there are several of these gun emplacements. The round gun platform measures 3 metres in diameter and has a concrete platform to the rear. Two courses of concrete bricks run round the edge of the circular gun platform. Its use is unknown - possibly LAA. DOB site reference: S0001097. The structures were recently cleared of vegetation and the Muckleburgh Collection plans to fully restore these emplacements and make them accessible to the public as part of their museum displays at some time in the future.

2403695_03b92f91.jpg


2403694_ba0ec549.jpg


Still following the perimeter fence, there is this structure. I don't know what purpose it served and am hoping that somebody on here will recognize it and kindly supply some information.

2403704_da328ef1.jpg


2403701_026948b0.jpg


2403702_0d2ade9d.jpg


This gun emplacement, possibly built to house a medium to large anti tank gun, is right beside the path - on the other side of the fence. Its large open rear implies use with a wheeled artillery piece, and I think this is what can be seen inside. DOB site reference: S0001096. It is adjoined by an observation post.

x15.jpg


x18.jpg


x17.jpg


There is more to explore in this area and I guess I will be back there soon-ish.
 
I bet some of the pillboxes on the beach front would have been pretty invisible when covered with camo nets and suchlike.

Interesting the pillboxes getting covered in shingle. Reminds me a year or so back, when some German pillboxes emerged from sand dunes like time capsules, full or artefacts!
 
...some German pillboxes emerged from sand dunes like time capsules, full or artefacts!

I'm afraid they tend go the other way, at least along the Norfolk and Suffolk coast, where many coastal defence (and other) structures fall into the North Sea.
 
Ahh yeah, that's the one :)

Not exactly mint preservation but still very interesting all the same.
 
Still following the perimeter fence, there is this structure. I don't know what purpose it served and am hoping that somebody on here will recognize it and kindly supply some information.

The gun emplacements that you pictured are for 5.25" HAA guns there appear to be 3 of them extant here and they are pretty rare so it's good news that there are plans to restore them. The building is the Battery Command Post which was situated a fair distance away as the blast from the guns was enormous. If I recall correctly Weybourne was a training camp for HAA gunners.
 
...Its large open rear implies use with a wheeled artillery piece, and I think this is what can be seen inside. DOB site reference: S0001096. It is adjoined by an observation post
x17.jpg

To my eye that looks an awful lot like a 105mm recoiless rifle much like the one left behind on Mount Longdon in the Falklands
203668_PG.jpg
 

Latest posts

Back
Top