.......................... Just half a mile from home! A Pill Box
Something that was built to protect us from invasion through World War I or II has been hidden for years beneath ivy and brambles. I've walked, cycled and driven past it umpteen times since living here but had no idea that what looked like a bit of overgrown hedge was hiding this little bit of history.
You can imagine what a surprise it was to see it for the first time. I couldn't believe what I was seeing but someone has done lots of hedge, ivy and bramble cutting and had a big bonfire to burn everything.
Wonder what will happen to it?
Back Tomorrow
Sue
Gran Design project? Perhaps Captain Mainwaring about?! x
ReplyDeleteBarns are always being turned into house in Suffolk but think this is a bit small for a Grand Design!
DeleteWow - what a discovery! I wonder if the person who discovered it was as surprised as you.
ReplyDeletexx
Yes the farmer would have known, they know every inch of their land usually.
DeleteHopefully nothing will happen to it.
ReplyDeleteI commented on your post yesterday.
Please be assured that every farmer knows exactly what is in every corner of every field on his land. We have masses of these pill boxes in East Anglia and many are left to get overgrown with brambles until the WW2 enthusiasts of Pill Boxes come along and expose them. I bet it was no mystery to the locals.
DeleteYes the farmer would have known it was there I think they've taken down the big hedge that was on the field side of the ditch to clean the ditch out as it floods on this bit of road easily.There were several pill boxes out near the coast but not so many remain inland.This one is on a very high bit with views all ways across open fields. It's even got a machine gun fixing still inside so I reckon its been hidden for years.
DeleteI see it is a typical Suffolk Square having looked at the lengthy and helpful Wiki page on WW2 Pillboxes.
Deletetheres loads hidden in out of the way corners around our bit of the world plus a mile over the fields we have a disused airfield
ReplyDeleteDisused airfield not far from here too. I expect this was protection
DeleteWe have a secret bunker, built for a group of men to hide in if the Germans ever invaded. A bit like the Home Guard, they were ordinary blokes who'd not been called up for the Army (the scoutmaster etc) Sadly our local council did nothing to maintain the site. It wasn't "secret" postwar, and they filled the entrance with concrete. It's now a real mess, which is rather sad IMHO. These brave men knew that IF the worst happened and they went there to live in hiding, and carry out night time sabotage, their life expectancy would be just two weeks. I wonder what happened to the soldiers who were on duty in your pillbox.
ReplyDeleteSad that the council did nothing to protect the site - lets hope it's never needed.
DeleteHow exciting! I wonder if the person who cut away the hedge, ivy and brambles knew it was there? Or knew something was there? Or didn't know anything was there and were surprised by their find?
ReplyDeleteI expect it was cleared by the farmer and I'm sure they would have known it was there
DeleteMy goodness! I suppose it was a massive mound of brambles and other vegetation then? Someone must have had an idea it was there, maybe from a recent forage into WWII archives?
ReplyDeleteThere was a big hedge all along the ditch top and then this mound of ivy brambles just looking like an overgrown corner by the field entrance
DeleteUnusual to see one without a roof.
ReplyDeleteThats what I thought too
DeleteYour shadow helps the photograph no end Sue. Thanks for your good wishes over the weeks. It is good to be back.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to hear from you. Hope you are resting and healing - sending you more ((hugs)) from Suffolk
DeleteWell if I was around and still a child, it would have been turned into a den within days of it being freed from the vegetation. Pill boxes, derelict buildings, half sunken boats ... we had a lot of dens back in the day :-)
ReplyDeleteI was lucky to live in a builders yard so we had all the sheds as well as fields all round to play in.
DeleteFrom the look of this pill box I think it's been hidden ever since the 1940s
What a great find, so much of our history is lost. Shame its not protected in some way.
ReplyDeleteThere are lots around Suffolk especially where we used to live near the coast
DeleteRemember finding one in the woods when we played as young children and daring each other to go inside it.
ReplyDeleteThis has got a very narrow entrance and lots of mud all round so I didn't squeeze in!
DeletePerhaps someone wanting to downsize could make it into a nice little bungalow! Only joking!
ReplyDeleteMargaret P
A VERY small bungalow!
DeleteI can imagine your shock the first time you drove past and saw that sitting there!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't been that way for a week and was on my bike and screeched to a halt thinking How? Where? When?!
DeleteI wondered if it was a possible new home project too! x
ReplyDeleteJust a wee bit small!
DeleteSo here's a dumb question: who or what would be in the pill box?
ReplyDeleteSoldiers with guns if we were ever invaded!
DeleteI've played inside a few as a child. I think they're protected. If you drive through Great Oakley there is one in the front garden of a house there.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting to have that suddenly appear from the brambles! It is also interesting that it remained hidden from view for such a long time. There is so much history attached to buildings like that, I hope it is preserved.
ReplyDeleteLoads of them up and down our coast, the bombers used to jettison what bombs they had left before crossing the North Sea.
ReplyDeleteGood grief - quite a large piece to be hidden behind a hedge and undergrowth. Very like the one just as you drive into Lampeter.
ReplyDeleteWe have several round here. I walked past an overgrown one for years without a clue it was there. Arilx
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! I hope it will not be destroyed. Important reminders from history.
ReplyDeleteWow, what an interesting piece of history.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I wonder if the people cutting the brush back had any clue it was there?
ReplyDeleteSomeone will try to do a TV project with it - in that series Tiny House!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing find so much history
ReplyDeleteThat is an intriguing "little" find.
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