Outer London Defence Ring (Line A) Oct 2010

Back in October I had the opportunity to use my Dad's Narrow boat. While I was heading towards Watford I spotted a few Pillboxes, on the Grand Union Canal. I also found a Anti-Tank Hairpin while going through one of the locks.
This part is in Rickmansworth along the Grand Union Canal & River Colne where I found more pillboxes and some Anti-Tank Blocks.

Info From Wiki :
The Outer London Defence Ring was a defensive ring built around London during the early part of the Second World War. It was intended as a defence against a German invasion, and was part of a national network of similar "Stop Lines".

In June 1940 under the direction of General Edmund Ironside, concentric rings of anti-tank defences and pillboxes were constructed in and around London. They comprised: The London Inner Keep, London Stop Line Inner (Line C), London Stop Line Central (Line B) and London Stop Line Outer (Line A)[1]. The Outer London Ring was the strongest and best developed of these, mainly because it could be constructed in open countryside. Work on all the lines was halted weeks later by Ironside's successor, General Alan Brooke[2], who favoured mobile warfare above static defence.

The ring used a mixture of natural rivers and artificial ditches up to 20 feet (6 m) wide and 12 feet (4 m) deep, encircling London completely.

North of London the ring followed a path similar to the route now taken by the M25 motorway, from Watford, following the River Colne, through Potters Bar, Cuffley, Nazeing, then running south through Epping Forest, Loughton and Chigwell. Many pillboxes and anti-tank traps are still visible at points along the ring, but in the majority of places the ditch is no longer visible, covered by the M25 or London suburbs.

More info from D.O.B. and Google Earth Images


More Pics can be found here;
s971.photobucket.com/albums/ae195/WinchItIn/Outer London Defence Ring/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ24

Might impressive work there and a good place to spot them from a narrowboat.

As Mr C says very impressive work !! I was planning a trip to Rickmansworth t'other day to see these so thanx for showing me their positions. Think i'll wait till the veg dies down a tad before i visit !!

Great set of pics mate thanks for sharing em

Cracking stuff there mate loving that type 27 shame they sealed it

Using the narrow boat was a stroke of sheer genius and it really did pay off! Great images

Nicely laid out report there Winch and a great way to visit them too. And you got yourself a 27 to boot. Well done mate.

There are is another pillbox east of S0000540 in the field across Moor Lane at 51d38'07.50" N 0d26'29.28" W. Also if you carry on through the field to 51d38'10.53" N 0d26'24.28 W you can see anti tank dragons teeth where the river colne goes under the met line train bridge.

You dragged this one out . Are you sure that grid ref is right it's in Wales , bit far from London
PS try posting a photo as well

night crawler said:

You dragged this one out . Are you sure that grid ref is right it's in Wales , bit far from London
PS try posting a photo as well

Click to expand...

Wrong, anything in the UK with a 0 degree longitude will be near the Greenwich meridian, don't think that applies to anywhere in Wales, but Essex/Hertfordshire fits the bill with a 51 degree latitude.....

So here is the location on Google Earth of the Pillbox: 51 38'07.50" N 0 26'29.28" W


Couple of old photos looking west and east respectively:




This pillbox can be seen when traveling between either croxley/rickmansworth and moor park on the metropolitan line.


Heres the location of the dragon's teeth, but I don't have any photos, maybe I'll go down there and record those:
51 38'10.53" N 0 26'24.28 W

In theory there should be more pillboxes traveling further east along the River Colne...

I don't use Google earth I use OS maps and this S0000540 looks like a grid ref, if you change the zero afer S it becomes SO with the Grid Ref. I thought this was wrong so forgive me if I thought it was wrong. Interesting pillbox, looks like the roof has been modified, did you look inside? it is worth going and getting a shot of the dragons teeth they I did not come across often.

LOL, no worries on the grid ref.

So for the roof it looks similar to S0000540 that Winch It In captured. Unfortunately I couldn't get inside as the entrance has been bricked over and the door is locked. I've put it on my todo list to see if I can capture a record of the Dragons Teeth (maybe recheck entrance to the pillbox also).

I remember when I came across them they looked completly out of character for the area. Many of the other anti tank concrete blocks blend in with the area, given the close proximity with the canal and metropolitan line. There are also some anti tank blocks on the edge of this field next to the train line and the train line fence intersects them. That can be seen on google earth by zooming in nearby to the area of the Dragons Teeth.