Type 25 Armco Pillbox, Hampshire

[callumcrom00]

One of the River Whitewater GHQ Line A Defences

The pillbox has three loopholes which have the original wood shuttering with an Armco Stamp and what seem the possible gun pivot points.

The large square rear entrance is placed halfway up the rear and is easily accessible.

The roofline is made of a double coarse of brickwork which has also survived very well.

I decided to go for less light in this shot to create a mood.

 

[Newage]

Cooling lighting as well mate.

 

[Hayman]

Cooling lighting as well mate.

As ever, comments here lead me to looking online for further info on names, places mentioned, etc

Years ago – long before I’d heard of Derelict Places – I was intrigued by the initials AMF at UK ten-pin bowling centres. AMF appeared on the housing of the pin resetting machinery. It stands for the American Machine and Foundry company.

Now I have looked up Armco – a name familiar from its generic use for motorway barriers. And it is yet another American company name – from the American Rolling Mill Company founded in 1899.

So Armco turned its production to making the steel for pill boxes erected in the UK during WWII.

From the photo, the steel is nothing more than corrugated steel sheets curved so as to create a circular drum-shaped structure. I take it that, since the roof was “a double course of brickwork”, there was a steel support lattice to hold it in place; and that the inside of the steel drum was lined with brickwork to withstand light weapons attack by any enemy. Perhaps use of reinforced concrete for the interior wall and roof was considered too costly and time consuming.

Each time I drive along a motorway, I’ll look at the Armco in a new light. Thanks to Derelict Places!