WWII PILLBOX

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Second World War pillbox of no recognised type. Built late 1940 or early 1941, forming part of the Somerset Coast line and Blue Anchor Bay defended locality. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1393831
Date first listed:: 10-Jun-2010
List Entry Name:: WWII PILLBOX
Statutory Address:: WWII PILLBOX

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1393831
Date first listed:: 10-Jun-2010
List Entry Name:: WWII PILLBOX
Statutory Address 1:: WWII PILLBOX

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: WWII PILLBOX

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Somerset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Dunster
National Grid Reference:: SS 99360 44599

Reasons for Designation

The World War II pillbox at Higher Marsh Farm, Dunster is recommended for designation in Grade II, for the following principal reason: * The pillbox was previously listed within the wrong parish, so its location was not accurately reflected in the List; it should instead be listed in the correct parish of Dunster

Details

DUNSTER

26/0/10001 WWII Pillbox 10-JUN-10

II Second World War pillbox of no recognised type. Built late 1940 or early 1941, forming part of the Somerset Coast line and Blue Anchor Bay defended locality.

MATERIALS: Constructed of brick, concrete and stone and provided with integral camouflage, including a pitched slate roof, with barge boards below and stone facing to ensure that the building resembled a cottage.

PLAN: Octagonal on plan.

EXTERIOR: The pillbox faces north, with an entrance in the southern wall. It is a shell-proof building with seven steel-shuttered fire resistant embrasures, concrete tables under the loops with a wide slot to hold a weapon and a central ricochet wall with unusual deflected cross walls.

HISTORY: After the defeat at Dunkirk in May 1940, Britain was faced with the prospect of imminent invasion. To counter this danger, an anti-invasion plan was developed by General Sir Edmund Ironside, Commander-in-Chief Home Forces, who created a series of static defence lines which were largely in place by the end of the year. The coastal defences included series of closely spaced pillboxes and other obstacles manned by the Home Guard. The Somerset coast was protected by a series of defences including coastal batteries, anti-tank blocks and girders, gun emplacements, cones, section posts, slit trenches and large numbers of pillboxes. The defended locality known as Blue Anchor Bay included at least 12 pillboxes, an infantry section post, an anti-tank girder and obstacles. The pillbox at Higher Marsh Farm retains its original camouflage; this may be to a design by the well-known theatre designer, Oliver Messel (1904-78), or his successor, the artist Julian Trevelyn, both of whom worked at H.Q. VIII in Taunton at the time.

SOURCES: Somerset Historic Environment Record 17637 National Monument Record No. SS SE 136 Defence of Britain Database S0001565 Foot, W., Defence Areas: a national study of Second World War anti-invasion landscapes in England. English Heritage and the Council for British Archaeology (2004) http://www.connectworks.co.uk/printeurope/pejtbiog.html Accessed 24 June 2009. Pepys-Whiteley, rev. James Hamilton, 'Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne (1904-1978), artist and stage designer', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved on 24 June 2009 from http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/31439 Gooding, M. rev, 'Trevelyan, Julian Otto (1910-1988), painter and printmaker', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved on 24 June 2009 from http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/39970 http://www.answers.com/topic/oliver-messel Accessed 24-Jun-09.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The World War II pillbox at Higher Marsh Farm, Dunster is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Rarity: it is a rare example of hybrid type * Historic interest: the pillbox retains its original camouflage which may have been designed either by Oliver Messel or Julian Trevelyn, both prominent artists * Fittings: the steel shutters are of an uncommon type * Group value: the pillbox forms an integral part of a nationally important defensive landscape.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 508389
Legacy System:: LBS

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.