Monument record TR 26 NW 1117 - Second World War Pillbox at the mouth of Bishopstone Glen, Bishopstone, Herne Bay

There was a Second World War pillbox erected at the mouth of Bishopstone Glen. The Glen had been a celebrated local beauty-spot, but was now heavily militarized as a potential route inland for enemy troops. This pillbox was one of the ‘Coastal Crust’ defences, constructed from mid 1940. It was pillbox No.49 in the 1940 list of pillboxes in East Kent (2 December); it was in Sector 7 of the area, at the stated Military Grid reference R 649869. In early to mid 1941 the seaward walls of this pillbox will have been thickened to three feet and six inches, to better withstand shell-fire. Pillboxes rapidly went out of fashion as defences, and, as pretty much the whole of the coastal cliffs from Bishopstone to Reculver were taken over for military training, this pillbox seems to have been singled out for target practice: ‘The glen had become a training assault course for the army, where soldiers crawled through the undergrowth and tossed live hand-grenades at imaginary Germans or fired their piat shells at the concrete [pillbox]’
Owner : Unknown
Publicly accessible : Unknown
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential :
Condition : unknown
Date of visit :

Site of Second World War pillbox [Sector 7]. North of Bishopstone. (7)

<1> 43 Division General Staff, 01/01/40, War Diary 43 Division General Staff (Unpublished document). Ske15118.

<2> CBA Defence of Britain Project (Digital archive). Ske15120.

<3> Mike Hougham, Primary School and the War (Digital archive). Ske15121.

<4> CBA Defence of Britain Project (Digital archive). SKE15120.

<5> 43 Division General Staff, 01/01/40, War Diary 43 Division General Staff (Unpublished document). SKE15118.

<6> Mike Hougham, Primary School and the War (Digital archive). SKE15121.

<7> Council for British Archaeology, 2002, Defence of Britain Project (Digital archive). SKE32029.