Listed Building record TQ 77 SE 1256 - Type 24 pillbox, Guelder Rose Drive, Hoo St Werburgh

Standard concrete construction infantry pillbox. No access, though visible through hedge.
Owner : Private
Publicly accessible : No
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential : Possible heritage trail
Condition : good
Date of visit : 11/05/06 (1,2)

A hexagonal brick-shuttered concrete pillbox. An infantry pillbox of type 24 facing ENE across the line of the former anti-tank ditch. Lack of brickwork above the embrasures is a feature unique to this particular part of the GHQ Line, presumably particular to an individual contractor.

The pillbox is deliberately located behind (to the west of) a hedge line to cover the anti-tank ditch (now in-filled) and field approaches to their north and east. The landscape here is relatively low-lying but the pillbox has been positioned to take advantage of a slight rise just below the Hoo St Werburgh ridge, providing the pillboxes with greater fields of fire. (3)

This pillbox is mentioned in the English Heritage report on the Second World War Stop Line on the Hoo Peninsula, part of the wider study of the Hoo Peninsula. The report states that this is 'A Second World War Type 24 infantry pillbox, constructed of reinforced concrete and brick shuttering, to the east of Bells Lane and south of Ratcliffe Highway, north east of Hoo St Werburgh. It has no brichwork above the embrasures. The pillbox was visible on aerial photographs of 2013 and seen on a field visit in 2014. It is in a fair condition and is listed at Grade II, NHLE 1391937'. (4)

Brick shuttered concrete pillbox, Chattenden. (1)

A Type 24 infantry pillbox facing east-north-east which is located across the line of a former anti-tank ditch. A pecularity is that it has no brickwork above the embrasures. It is situated north of a Type 28 gun emplacement (see HOB UID 1426745) and forms a line of four pillboxes (see HOB UID 1418683 and 1418684). Grade II listed. (2)

A Second World War Type 24 infantry pillbox is located to the east of Bells Lane and south of Ratcliffe Highway, north east of Hoo St Werburgh. The structure, constructed of reinforced concrete and brick shuttering, survives in fair condition, and is listed Grade II. It is one element within the supporting defences of a Stop Line (Monument 1542577) constructed in 1940 across the south western third of the Hoo Peninsula, from the north bank of the Medway to the south bank of the Thames at Higham Creek. The pillbox and the rest of the Stop Line defence system have been mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. Other elements of the Stop Line defence system in the immediate vicinity of this pillbox include part of the anti tank ditch (Monument 1542630), the pillboxes noted in authority 2, and another pillbox to the north of Ratcliffe Highway (Monument 1418681). (3-5)

<1> MMRG, 11/05/06, Pillbox Type 24 (Collection). SKE14653.

<2> 11th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, 08/01/41, War diary. (Collection). SKE14308.

<3> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<4> historic england, 2014, Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project: Second World War Stop Line: Hoo St Werburgh to Higham Marshes. Research Report 9-2014. (Bibliographic reference). SKE31599.

<5> Council for British Archaeology, 2002, Defence of Britain Project (Digital archive). SKE32029.

<6> 11th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, 08/01/41, War diary. (Collection). Ske14308.

<7> MMRG, 11/05/06, Pillbox Type 24 (Collection). Ske14653.