History never rests, it's always creating more of itself, so much so that most of what went before gets forgotten, especially the ephemeral. We'll walk past historical hints all the time, totally oblivious to them or the parts they played. Take these iron loops on one of our local bridges, two pairs a meter of so apart, set into the bridges brickwork opposite each other, easily overlooked. Any ideas about what they could've been for? The only reason I know is that one of my archaeological interests are the home front defences/sites/features of World War 2. These are anchoring points for wire anti tank/vehicle obstacles erected during the early part of the Second World War, the invasion fear period, probably by local defence forces. Who'd have thought. They reckon this sort of defence would've been effective in at least slowing down the light armour the Germans would have been able to land, and stopped most other vehicles. I understand there was some kind of defensive structure covering the bridge too, possibly a pillbox or strong point, although no evidence of that endures. Everything out there tells a story, and everywhere has stories to tell.
Showing posts with label defences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label defences. Show all posts
Sunday, 24 May 2020
Thursday, 13 June 2019
Friday, 31 May 2019
Holding the line
Remnants of a time when we needed to protect ourselves from a threatened invasion from an increasingly agitated and aggressive Isle of Wight still litter the intertidal of East Dorset and West Hampshire. Thankfully a treaty was signed with the mainland promising to leave the islanders in peace, and invasion was averted. That was nearly 40 years ago now, and still nothing has been heard or seen of the illusive islanders. The mind can only boggle.
Labels:
bunker,
coast,
defences,
fake news,
Isle of Wight,
New Forest coast,
pillbox
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