Standard concrete construction infantry pillbox, brick faced. Open door and embrasures.
Owner : Private
Publicly accessible : No
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential : Possible heritage trail
Condition : good
Date of visit : 11/10/06

This feature is recorded in the English Heritage report on the Second World Stop Line in the Hoo Peninsula, part of the wider Hoo Peninsula study. The report notes that there are two pillboxes in this approximate area, one is located south of the railway and one to the north. The descriptions from the English Heritage report for both of these pillboxes are given below, although the one has not been mapped as its exact location is not ascertainable from the English Heritage report.

First pillbox
The report states: "Site of Second World War pillbox on Dux Court Road, east of the Lodge Hill military depot and south of a dismantled railway line. Nothing identified on aerial images during the Hoo Peninsula Historic Landscape Project."

Second pillbox.
The report states: "Second World War hexagonal pillbox north of a disused military railway east of Lodge Hill Royal Naval Armaments Depot. Visible on aerial photographs taken between 1944 and 1969 but obscured by vegetation on later photos. Reported in 2006 to the Kent HER as in good condition. This may be the pillbox HRHE 1441601." (5.)

TQ 7743 7394. A Second World War hexagonal pillbox is visible on aerial photographs and has been mapped as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. The structure was located on the north side of a military railway, now disused, just to the east of Lodge Hill Royal Naval Armaments Depot (Monument 1077634). It formed part of the defences associated with the Hoo Stop Line (Monument 1542577), constructed in 1940 across the south western third of the Hoo Peninsula, from the Medway to the Thames. Defensive features associated with this pillbox include two sections of anti tank ditch (Monuments 1542630, 1542646). (6-8)

It is possible that this pillbox is the one referred to by Monument record 1441601, as no pillbox could be identified on the south side of the railway on any available aerial photographs. The structure was visible on aerial photographs until 1969, after which time the site appeared overgrown with vegetation. It reportedly survived in good condition in 2006, when it was examined for the Kent HER (TQ 77 SE 1280 - MKE42188). (5)

<1> 11th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, 18/01/41, War Diary (Collection). Ske14325.

<2> MMRG, 05/11/06, Type 24 Pillbox (Photograph). Ske14669.

<3> 11th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, 18/01/41, War Diary (Collection). SKE14325.

<4> MMRG, 05/11/06, Type 24 Pillbox (Photograph). SKE14669.

<5> 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.

<6> RAF, 1944, NMR US/7GR/LOC348 2065 27-MAY-1944 (Photograph). SKE55973.

<7> RAF, 1947, NMR RAF/CPE/UK/1923 4081 16-JAN-1947 (Photograph). SKE55977.

<8> Unknown, 1969, NMR OS 69021 028 27-MAR-1969 (Photograph). SKE58396.