I know there is another on the path to Winspit, from Worth Matravers, and also the remains of another on Studland.
Great little things to find, but yeah, sod having to man one!
Allan Williams Turret Norfolk
- Thread starter Philip
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I know there is another on the path to Winspit, from Worth Matravers, and also the remains of another on Studland.
Great little things to find, but yeah, sod having to man one!
AndyC
Well-known member
The one near Worth Matravers is one of the two I quote. It is actually on the path to Seacombe (which has a similar, but less interesting quarry to that at Winspit).
Love to know where the one is at Studland though.
hercules
Active member
Hi There , New to DP ,looking at A W Turrets thought i'd let you know there are 2 more on the Bayfield Estate,few miles inland from Cley. Hope to get pics when camera is fixed!!
Nightcrawler posted about a one in his vickers post Builth Wells post http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=11151 so theres another one
Hi There , New to DP ,looking at A W Turrets thought i'd let you know there are 2 more on the Bayfield Estate,few miles inland from Cley. Hope to get pics when camera is fixed!!
Hi and wellcome.Look forward to seeing your photos.
Not a roomy place I agree, but much better than a Tett Turret. As I understand it both these types weren't intended as pilboxes in the conventional sense but actually as hardened AA defences around sensitive sites such as Chain Home radar sites and Army camps. They would afford the firer much better protection under air attack than just standing out in the open and blasting away. They wouldn't have been permanently manned.
True.Several near me are located on an airfield.Having said that,this one seems by its position to part of the Norfolk coastal defences,being only a couple of hundred yards from the beach.
You are right that it's coastal, but it was probably part of the defences of a training ground, camp, HAA battery or something similar. I'll check the HER and see what it says.
Ok it's listed as a seperate artefact in the HER but my guess is that it was part of the AA defences of the coastal battery immediately to its North along with the Type FW3/27 pillbox that's mouldering away on the bank of the creek to its NNW.
I'm not entirely sure that's the case. The one near me is on it's own in a defensive point with a couple of spigot mortars. I think (though I haven't checked) that there are a few near Cockley Cley / Oxborough area in Norfolk where they may also be defensive points in their own right.
I'd suspect that they may have been used in flatland areas like parts of Norfolk and the Fens as stand alone defences in preference to pillboxes, due to the fact they were easier to disguise in a flat landscape.
Those ones are all sited around the large country house there. I can't find any info about it but I suspect it must have been requisitioned by the military for some purpose, most likely as an army headquarters, which would warrant their presence.
Maybe a better way to phrase it would be to say that they weren't intended as being integrated into the stop line or nodal point system in an anti-infantry role as most pillboxes are. Their fire-power and protection would have been lacking in that role, although they did of course have that capability. They were intended as a simple expedient to bolster the AA defences of important military sites and therefore probably would only have been manned on an "action stations" basis unlike many of the coastal pillboxes which were permanently manned.
The one near me is on a stop line, with no major defensive structures or military assets nearby, other than a couple of spigot mortars. The guns were mounted horizontally and were anti-personnel guns, or anti-tank rifles, so only useful against ground attack.
The top hatch was designed for AA use.One point however,I suspose that the second crew member was responsible for rotating the turret.That is if he could hear anything,the noise must have been deafening.
hercules
Active member
I have a book on norfolks fixed defences which shows a picture of a 'turret with a Lewis gun mounted for AA use' and it states that the front opening was for use against infantry. Hypoboy was right about them being less conspicuous than pillbox as 'these were considered a desirable alternative to conventional pillboxes as they were lower and easier to conceal'
Apparently the C-in-C,Southern Command stated they had no value for AA use as it was too difficult to rotate and the field of fire was too small.
The book also mentions that one was built on TOP of a pillbox at Cromer!! surely that defeats the whole idea of them. Sadly was demolished long ago.
Hope Im not boring you.
Hercules do you know of the Pillbox near Mundesely?
hercules
Active member
Not sure which one you're referring to, do you mean the one with a 'cone' on top
If so see my last post in WW2 defences I've posted some pics of it
hercules
Active member
Excellent Pic. What i wondered was,do the same crew man the AA gun as the pillbox?
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krela
Well-known member
Pillboxes were never manned...
