Cotswolds pillboxes, Winchcombe area. Dec 2011

[Jimthething]

Hi guys. Although based in East Yorkshire amongst the lumps of cast concrete I've just spent a week down in Gloucestershire visiting my better half's folks. While down there I managed to spend an afternoon out walking in the Cotswolds. I'd marked the locations of a few pillboxes onto my OS map using Cptpies excellent overlay for GE and I made these the checkpoints for my walk.
The pillboxes down there are rather aesthetically pleasing compared to our concrete coastal monstrosities, although I don't know how well they would stand up to a good strafing, being constructed mainly from blocks of local sand/limestone.
I was accompanied by a friend who is involved in the military so it was interesting to have a trained tactical opinion on the location of the pillboxes. Common consensus was that although they were, for the most part in prominent locations which would afford defenders an excellent field of fire and make them virtually impossible to approach undetected from any direction, their prominence would also be their downfall as they wouldn't take long for a mortar team to fettle from the cover of one of the many handy ditches local to the area.
I imagine that if we had been invaded their value would have been in slowing down an invading army and generally being a pain in the arse rather than being something that would stop them in their tracks, as the ones we saw could very easily be walked around if you didn't want to waste time and ammunition removing them.
Anyway, enjoy the pics (this time without date stamps )

This first one, SP0028, is apparently a type FW3/22 and is positioned in a prominent spot with excellent views on the top of Langley Hill near Winchcombe

Christmas 2011 053 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 051 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 052 by jimthething, on Flickr

This pillbox had a brick wall inside it with a kind of 'Y' shape pointing toward the entrance. It would possibly be of some use in protecting the inhabitants from any explosion in the doorway (from a grenade, perhaps?)

Christmas 2011 055 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 056 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 054 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 058 by jimthething, on Flickr

More hibernating butterflies

Christmas 2011 059 by jimthething, on Flickr

Cast concrete ceilings, constructed using corrugated iron shuttering.

Christmas 2011 057 by jimthething, on Flickr

And found scratched into the mortar and looking like new was this inscription. It's these little details that really make places like this personal...

Christmas 2011 063 by jimthething, on Flickr

The terrain around the first pillbox

Christmas 2011 072 by jimthething, on Flickr

Pillbox 2 is another type FW3/22 located by what is now Winchcombe cricket club.

Christmas 2011 065 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 071 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 060 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 061 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 064 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 069 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 070 by jimthething, on Flickr

Another of the Y shaped alcoves near the entrance

Christmas 2011 066 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 067 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 068 by jimthething, on Flickr

This 3rd pillbox, SP0424 is uncategorised on DOB. If it is a pillbox there aren't any signs of loopholes and the floor layout doesn't have any of the usual inner walls. It looks as though there's been some sort of hatch in the roof but the whole thing is in very poor condition now. It is sited on top of a very high hill looking west towards the village of Charlton Abbots

Christmas 2011 104 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 105 by jimthething, on Flickr

This one was constructed of concrete blocks rather then local stone.

Christmas 2011 106 by jimthething, on Flickr

Showing the hatch on the roof.

Christmas 2011 107 by jimthething, on Flickr

My 4th pillbox is located in the corner of what is now a paddock in the hamlet of Greet just north of Winchcombe. We're back to the local stone blocks with this one although it seems to have been more of a freestyle construction rather than a set pattern such as the first 2 follow.

Christmas 2011 112 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 113 by jimthething, on Flickr

I didn't manage to gain access to this one so all of the pictures were shot over the hedge. There was a house on the opposite side of the paddock and although the inhabitants were probably out blasting holes in the local wildlife as there was a shoot going on nearby, anybody climbing the gate would then have to negotiate several yards of very wet looking s**t and mud to get to the pillbox!

Christmas 2011 114 by jimthething, on Flickr


Christmas 2011 115 by jimthething, on Flickr

Next time I'm down in that part of the country I'll photograph the pillboxes nearer to Cheltenham. There also a rather exciting looking RAF base at Honeybourne not too far away that according to GE and DOB still has trenches, bunkers, command posts etc so I'll be swinging by there at some time in the future too!

 

[RichCooper]

Interesting set of pics there Jim.Wonder what the odd concrete thing was

 

[Jimthething]

Not sure Rich. It's marked on DOB as a pillbox but it just didn't feel like one. I don't know what significance the roof-hatch would have. There is an AA searchlight site less than a mile to the east of it, although the placement of a lot of the pillboxes down there seem to be pretty random.

 

[jools]

Thanks for the report

That looks like a septic tank or a water tank,,,,,,

 

[Jimthething]

Just found this information on wikipedia...

"The type 23 pillbox is rectangular in plan — essentially two squares, one of which is roofed and the other open — with embrasures in each of the available sides of the covered section. The embrasures are suitable for rifles or light machine guns. The open section was for a light anti-aircraft defence: a Bren or Lewis gun on a mounting. Usually, there is no ground level entrance, to get in one had to climb over the wall into the open section and then pass though a door to the covered section. The walls were 8 feet (2.4 m) wide by 16 feet (4.9 m) long and usually built to a bulletproof standard of 12 inches (30 cm) thick.[16][17][18]
The type 23 is uncommon, 156 are recorded as being extant. A further variant exists in Lincolnshire consisting of a double chambered type 23 with an access door with anti-aircraft gun mount and a chamber on either side"

This might explain why it doesn't look like the other ones. Also the open area for a light AA machine gun would also tie in with the nearby searchlight site.

It looks too heavily built to be a water tank and it is very remote, plus there's plenty of water available in the valley bottoms not far away. Curiouser and curiouser lol!

 

[WinchItIn]

Cracking pic's there Jim, nice to see stone walled boxes unlike the usual brick shuttered one's round here.

 

[jonney]

nice pillboxes jim great to see they haven't been vandalised. That unusual one isn't a type 23 as they usually have 3 embrasures in the roofed section and have an interior wall plus the roof looks too thin, judging by the hatch I'd say it was actually an old water tank because the metalwork looks the type you get on manhole covers

 

[leftorium]

LTLFTP... How far away is the searchlight site? Could it be a generator or a store associated with that ? Id say that The block work near the top is too feeble for defence and would probably not even withstand a couple of rifle rounds. The AA pits on pillboxes are usually far more substantial.

The local stone is probably for camouflage rather than strength as the reinforced concrete would do that I suspect the boxes were cast with wood shuttering and then faced with stone afterwards., the thickness of the concrete suggests that they are bullet proof rather than shell proof. The Y shaped walls are indeed anti richochet walls and were designed to prevent any rounds entering through one embrasure bouncing around inside and wounding the occupants. A fair few bullet proof boxes seem to be garrison points to house heavy weapons and the troops as the idea of static defence was falling from favour even as the boxes were being completed. In the event of an attack the actual defence would be coordinated in associated sandbagged emplacements and slit trenches so the prominence of the boxes may not have been such a problem. Nice set of pics, I love a walk with concrete interesting that the porches are stone rather than cast perhaps they were added later?

 

[Jimthething]

Thanks for all the interesting and informative comments, guys. So the third structure is looking more like some sort of water storage. Yes the opening on the top is very reminiscent of a manhole opening, lol.
The searchlight site is is just under a mile away to the east. Not much there worth photographing now; mostly just crop marks.

 

[cptpies]

Excellent set of pics Jim. I love the ones camouflaged with local stone. It's nice to hear your mates comments about the locations but I think he's wrong about a mortar having any impact on them. Standard roof thickness is 1ft of reinforced concrete which was considered proof against anything up to and including 81mm HE. A direct hit would have made the occupants lives rather interesting though and would likely have stripped the pillbox of its supporting infantry, making it slightly easier to tackle. Could you give me a location for the water tank so I can correct my overlay, SP0424 doesn't correlate with either a DoB or EDOBID number.

 

[Jimthething]

The location of the non-pillbox is 048,242 OL45 Explorer or 51°55'00 1°55'58 on GE. They didn't look that robust in the flesh/stone but I guess they would have been constructed to meet standards back in the day!

 

[ford369]

great report and as has already been said ,nice to see they have not been chavved

 

[night crawler]

You just have to love a pillbox made in Cotswold stone. Nice set that but Id go with with jonney and say it was a water tank.

 

[leftorium]

If its a mile away it's nowt to do with the searchlight so my money is on domestic water of some sort

 

[jools]

,,,that's wot i said ,,,it's not unusual to see them on top of the hills here in Wales

 

[Munchh]

......................................interesting that the porches are stone rather than cast perhaps they were added later?

That's certainly the case with the Taunton stopline. In simple terms, the porch was for added protection at the rear should the PB be outflanked.

When the defensive strategy shifted and the Anti-Tank Islands were created, existing stopline PB's were 're-used' and in some cases modified in various ways to meet the new 'Defended locality' requirement. This often meant the addition of a porch/annexe on the side of the box facing into the ATI. This addition (in some cases on the TSL) had an enlarged embrasure for a Vickers.

PB's built specifically for the ATI's had these modifications designed in to the build.

Nice work Jim. If you can spare the time, try plotting the exact positions on GE along with which embrasures are facing which way and you will get an even better idea of what was being defended and how. Bear in mind though that once you start doing this, you will be well and truly hooked.

Welcome to the cause.

 

[oldscrote]

A nice set of rustic pillboxes to greet me on a Sunday,thanks Jim.As Munchh says, beware of the pillbox addiction.

 

[jonney]

pillbox addiction is no joke before you know it you'll be like the rest of us, on the look out for them everywhere you go and as Munchh says if you plot the direction of the embrasures you will be able to work out why the pillboxes were located there. I've found a few coastal pillboxes that confused me as the entrances faced the sea and it wasn't till I plotted the embrasures that I realised their position defended flat open ground that would have been ideal for a parachute troop landing behind the coastal gun positions. keep up the good work

 

[Andymacg]

nice bit of pillbox goodness you have there mate

, dont worry scrabbling round in undergrowth looking for more concrete treats will be the norm from now on

 

[Jimthething]

Haha, yes it has become a bit of an obsession of late. I've always enjoyed climbing around on and in them but my pillbox awareness has certainly been tweaked after first finding Rich Coopers reports on the boxes along my stretch of coastline here in E Yorks.
I have no experience of hilltop water storage whatsoever, Jools as we have no hills whatsoever around here so this is all a very enjoyable learning curve for me!
And Jonney, yes I had a walk with Rich and Danny along the clifftop just north of where I live a few weeks back and we found one that had the entrance towards the cliff and the embrasures facing inland - must be for the same reason your parachute defending PB was built for. Another lesson learned, thank you!
I noticed a few of these 'defended locality' positions marked on DOB when I was down in the Cotswolds last week - something else I want to have a closer look at next time I'm down there - one even has spigots for setting mortars on which I'd really like to photograph.
Cheers guys

Oh and Munchh, the pillboxes in this report faced as follows:
PB1 facing south west down into the valley and the road that runs along it (although it's a good mile distant).
PB2 facing westerly with it's entrance towards Winchcombe
PB3 not a PB apparently!
PB4 facing north, again with it's entrance towards Winchcombe.
Looking at these facings on a map it would seem that they are defending some of the approaches to Winchcombe, certainly from the north and south/southwest anyway.