Bewick Hill Pillbox, Northumberland - April 2008

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BigLoada

Guest
Found this by accident whilst out hiking recently. It is the remotest one I have seen so far. There isnt even a rough track to it and the hill it stands on is very steep. There was two of these, one facing north, the other south. Glad I found them as a blizzard was 30 seconds away so they were great shelters!

They happen to stand within the ramparts of a 5000 year old hillfort with excellent views.

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Even in this remote place there was still graffiti:mad:
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The view from the window
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Crikey BigLoada it's in the middle of no-where! I bet it is cold at that altitude.
I like the concrete shelves - near the coast they would be smashed.
 
Yes I couldn't believe it when I stumbled across them, it was bizarre up there on a wild heather moor.
 
Neosea said:
That's a cool find, and a hill fort too, do you have a flash earth link?
Click to expand...

Yes, here it is:

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=55.487396&lon=-1.881408&z=20&r=0&src=msl

The crosshair is right on the pillbox I took the pictures of. The other was identical.

As for the hillfort I think it is Iron age and although there are much bigger ones in Northumberland such as the one on Yeavering Bell, this is the most impressive I have ever seen. The ramparts stand over 10 feet high and where the earth has eroded, the original stone walls are visible and in fantastic condition. There are many impressive cup& ring marked rocks nearby too and a bronze age burial cist.
 
Wonder if the graffiti has been someone else out hiking and stopping off their during bad weather. That whole area is where we sometimes drive around at random in the summer, love following little unknown roads to see where they go :)
 
BigLoada said:
Yes, here it is:

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=55.487396&lon=-1.881408&z=20&r=0&src=msl

The crosshair is right on the pillbox I took the pictures of. The other was identical.

As for the hillfort I think it is Iron age and although there are much bigger ones in Northumberland such as the one on Yeavering Bell, this is the most impressive I have ever seen. The ramparts stand over 10 feet high and where the earth has eroded, the original stone walls are visible and in fantastic condition. There are many impressive cup& ring marked rocks nearby too and a bronze age burial cist.
Click to expand...

That's great thanks, those earth works are unusual on that hill fort. Something I will check out. Thanks for the link.
 
Nice one Bigloada,

I've been to that hill fort and seen the pillboxes and always thought it was funny that thousands of years later, that hill is still seen as important and had to be defended.
 
stesh said:
Nice one Bigloada,

I've been to that hill fort and seen the pillboxes and always thought it was funny that thousands of years later, that hill is still seen as important and had to be defended.
Click to expand...

Cheers Stesh. I dont think the hill was important, I think it just has a great vantage point. There are 360 degree unimpeded views so makes a good base for a fortress/pillbox

Logan Five: I was only out for about 5 hours as its been a while so I am trying to ease myself back into hillwalking. Yeah that last pic, that is the Cheviot on the far right, still covered in snow in April!
 
Last edited:
What a brilliant find! I find both the pillboxes and the hill fort very interesting. Especially like these T24's though, with the shelves still inside.
Just been doing some research and most T24's were built to accommodate the Bren Gun, so there would have been a much larger, inbuilt embrasure with two posts for the legs of the Bren tripod. These are just shelves, so I assume they were only intended for rifle fire. Good stuff! :mrgreen:
 
Foxylady said:
What a brilliant find! I find both the pillboxes and the hill fort very interesting. Especially like these T24's though, with the shelves still inside.
Just been doing some research and most T24's were built to accommodate the Bren Gun, so there would have been a much larger, inbuilt embrasure with two posts for the legs of the Bren tripod. These are just shelves, so I assume they were only intended for rifle fire. Good stuff! :mrgreen:
Click to expand...


Thanks for that info! I didn't know pillboxes had classifications such as T24 etc. Interesting about the shelves as well. Its cool how there are a lot people on these forums who have knowledge in different areas. I have learned quite a bit since being here!
 

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