Down but not out

I'm not certain how far up the cliff side this Type 25 pillbox was originally sited, but I do remember it sitting above the level of the orange/yellow sands back in the late 1970's. Along with other structures around Studland it was built hastily in 1940 by the Directorate of Fortifications and Works (FW3) to offer some defence against the believed imminent German invasion. Necessity driven by war meant that around the country not all structures were completed to a high standard, clearly 85 years exposed to the elements and still standing ready suggests this one certainly was.

Sunken sentinel exposed

I can remember a time when you could crouch inside the remains of this sunken World War Two sentinel half buried in the intertidal below the Barton slides, you could still just see through it's embrasures too. That was many years ago now though. The sands regularly reveal and obscure this old pillbox on a whim, though never to extent I'm talking about. Thinking about it, that was probably 30 years plus ago now. We headed out for our walk earlier this morning to avoid the potential of a gathering herd, getting to the beach by 0730, our objective was realized. It was a good move, only a handful of dog walkers and trio of horse riders, and they were all at the bunny end of the beach, so beyond the sunken sentinel the sands were ours alone. Happy days.

WW2 debris

Hengistbury Head was a hive of activities during the Second World War, there was a Chain Home Low radar station, gun battery, pillboxes, anti tank obstacles, mines, trenches and entanglements, the whole WW2 set.  After the war these features were broken up buried or removed.  Just before the head rises there's a jumbled mass of concrete and bar protruding from the cliff face. It's been visible for years. Recently, and most likely due the elements, several large pieces of concrete have slid from their resting place near the cliff top towards and onto the pebbles below. On one of the pieces you can clearly see a firing embrasure with what looks like a steep angle of downward fire, suggesting it was once a cliff top pillbox.  It's a real shame how we've been so careless with, our World War Two heritage. 

Sunken Sentinel

Sunken Sentinel on a stormy shore.

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.

Hengistbury Head

Out of sight, out of mind, maybe. Though nature and time ensure that burying our past doesn't mean it's gone for good. Along the seaward face of Hengistbury Head, structures of our Second World War past continue to erode into the present. The Hengistbury headland was heavily utilized and fortified during the war years, and of course post war many of the associated feature were removed, or as I allude to, buried, whilst others, notably infrastructure elements such as the concrete and brick conduits which carried communication and power cables, already invisible underground, remained where they were. Many of the sturdier structures, Anti Tank Obstacles (ATO's), Pillboxes and Gun Emplacements were broken up and buried or used as hardcore. In the cliff face, just as the headland rises, some elements of those broken and buried structures are being exposed by erosion. The photo shows what I believe to be a destroyed Artillery Pillbox with some heavily corroded and concreted ironwork, whether associated with the pillbox or not, I'm not sure. I say an Artillery Pillbox as the embrasure (the aperture to fire through) is too substantial for small arms, offering a broad arc of fire; such a large embrasure would have left men inside with just rifles or light machine guns too exposed. It amazes me how clean and well preserved (except for the intentional damage) these structures can be, just look at the concrete, it looks recent, not 70 odd years old; and these structures were thrown up in haste too, with often not the best materials. As the cliff erodes I'll see if any more diagnostic features emerge. I also had a look at the surrounding fill for any smaller artefacts, though none revealed themselves. A walk that stimulates the mind as well as the body is twice the walk. Nice.

War torn or just forlorn

Slighted, though for the most part not in war; much of the World War Two archaeology on Goldlingston Heath and the Studland peninsula were just left forlorn, and have fallen to the ravages of time, a different battle in an endless war. A lot of the areas wartime sites were war torn, it's true, though not by an enemy, but by the allies; the Studland peninsula was an off limits secret training and weapons testing area. The beaches saw rolling artillery and rocket barrages from landing craft, the development and testing of 'Hobarts Funnies', and all manner of other preparations for defence and the D-Day invasion, culminating in live fire exercises watched by massed allied commanders. From the invasion fears period of 1940, right through to the end of the war, Studland saw military activity, in fact, it was so heavily used that it wasn't until the 1960's that areas of the beaches and dunes were cleared of ordinance and re-opened to the public. Some years back I had to call the rangers to contact Bomb Disposal after discovering a live wartime rocket protruding at 45 degrees amongst the dunes. The above sites; the remaining section of a line of Anti Tank Obstacles (ATO's)  at Bramble Bush Bay and a Type 25 Pillbox beneath Redend Point survived the war years intact, and haven't done too badly since, though the rigours of time are beginning to show, and the cracks are beginning to appear. I first saw these sites in the 70's and have witnessed their decline first hand. Over the years the ATO's have become undercut and are toppling, and as for the Pillbox, I remember when it was still well up the cliff side, rather than in the intertidal.  I suppose it's quite a wonder that they endure at all, after all most of the Studland peninsulas wartime sites, as with military buildings throughout the country at the time, were constructed in haste and with diminishing resources. 15 years ago I spent a lot of time recording the wartime sites on Goldlingston Heath and the Studland peninsula, I feel it may be time for a review of them.

We'd have fought them on the beaches

Churchill said we'd fight them on the beaches, though would we have stopped them? Would we have won?  On the beaches, no. In the longer campaign, apparently, yes. In the 1970's 'Operation Sea Lion', the 1940 German invasion plan was war-gamed by 30 British and German military experts and was umpired by three military commanders (air, land, sea) from each country. Initially, the Germans broke through the coastal defences and pushed 10 miles inland establishing a beachhead, though the forces that made it ashore became overstretched and lacked supplies, and as the Luftwaffe couldn't dominate the skies, so Royal Navy was able to successfully stop any German re-enforcements or supplies reaching the beleaguered forces. The game started on September 19th 1940 and by the 28th of September 1940 the remaining German forces either escaped back to France or surrendered and were imprisoned, the umpires unanimously declared the German invasion a failure. Like many other beaches, Kimmeridge was hastily defended in 1940, of those defences 2 type 25 pillboxes and 2 lines of 'Dragons Teeth' anti tack obstacles remain. The ATO's and pillbox in the 2nd and 3rd photos have recently been cleared of invasive growth, whereas the other end of that ATO line have almost disappeared under natures blanket.  Even though many of these wartime defences have been removed from the archaeological record, you'd be surprised at how many remain hidden and forgotten, a testament to the extent of the defences thrown up in 1940.