This is a brick-shuttered Type 24 pillbox, in the grounds of a public house, near the southern end of Adisham Station. It faces north and east across a T-junction on the Adisham Road. It will have defended the approaches to an important military site at Adisham Station against approach along the roads to the north and east. It will also have defended a nearby road bridge, over the Canterbury to Dover Railway (which constituted the Dover, Canterbury, Whitstable Stop Line, locally). This was pillbox No.116 in the 1940 list of pillboxes in East Kent (2 December); it was in Sector 3 of the area, at the stated Military Grid reference R 675719. The pillbox was unusually large. There is a large circular hole in the roof (extant and visible on immediate post-war aerial photographs), above a concrete platform. It has been suggested the pillbox may have been used as a kind of observation platform. However a Recce by the Royal engineers in mid June 1941 noted a ‘6 pounder R.A. gun emplacement’ at this exact reference, ‘covering railway station and road approaching station from N.E.’, and a Royal Artillery Location Statement of July included an anti tank gun in the near vicinity. Might this unusually large Type 24 pillbox have housed an anti-tank gun emplacement? The pillbox is extant and in fair condition. Secondary components of the locality, such as excavated defences, may survive archaeologically in the near vicinity.
Owner : Unknown
Publicly accessible : Unknown
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential :
Condition : moderate
Date of visit :

Mike Osborne, CBA Defence of Britain Project (Digital archive). SKE15131.

Mike Osborne, CBA Defence of Britain Project (Digital archive). Ske15131.

Photograph by John Herbert (digital copy in project archive). (Photograph). SKE14718.

Photograph by John Herbert (digital copy in project archive). (Photograph). Ske14718.

Finch R., Some Pillboxes and Stop Lines (Article in serial). SKE15134.

Finch R., Some Pillboxes and Stop Lines (Article in serial). Ske15134.

43 Division General Staff, 01/01/40, War Diary 43 Division General Staff (Unpublished document). SKE14717.

43 Division General Staff, 01/01/40, War Diary 43 Division General Staff (Unpublished document). Ske14717.

260 Field Company Royal Engineers, 01/01/41, War Diary 260 Field Company Royal Engineers (Unpublished document). SKE15133.

260 Field Company Royal Engineers, 01/01/41, War Diary 260 Field Company Royal Engineers (Unpublished document). Ske15133.

57 Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery, 01/01/41, War Diary 57 Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery (Unpublished document). SKE15132.

57 Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery, 01/01/41, War Diary 57 Anti-Tank Regiment Royal Artillery (Unpublished document). Ske15132.