The Herald – 15th Jan 2004
Sands give up war secrets
A reminder of how the Welsh coastline was protected from the possible enemy attack during the WWII has emerged on Black Rock Sands, near Porthmadog.
Local people say the last time the pill box in the dunes between the Lon Gwydryn entrance and Cwt Powdwr was seen was some 50 years ago – since then it has been buried by the sand.
The Government spent large sums of money in the early 1940s on building what became known as dragons teeth – concrete blocks – in front of the sand dunes along the two mile long beach. The work also included the building of a number of pill boxes from where the soldiers, including members of the home guard could view the coastline through special holes forming part of the structure.
The beach itself became a no-go area as larch holes were “planted” at regular intervals to make it difficult for any enemy invasion to succeed. Barbed wire was also placed on top of each pole, again adding to the defense of the coastline.
Soon after the end of the war, the larch poles and barbed wire were removed by cutting them off at the base, some two feet below sand level.
Over the years, a number of stumps left behind have emerged as the level of sand on the beach changed, with the result that steps had to be taken to remove them to make the beach safe for the public. But remains of the larch poles have continued to emerge from time to time, the latest being at the far end of the beach near Cwt Powdwr, a situation that will soon see the country council contractors removing them on the grounds of safety.
Nearby, where recent high tides have removed a long stretch of dunes, a part of a pill box has emerged, becoming a winter attraction. There are fears locally that if the tides continue to erode the dunes, the entire pill box will emerge and fall onto the beach.
All the other pill boxes along the beach have already been demolished ad they became a hazard as more and more tourists were attracted to them.
Local people this week have recalled the actual building of the coastline defenses in the early 1940s.
“ I remember my father, the late Robert John Williams, working there with the contractors Davies Bermo on the building of the actual dragons’ teeth, where the concrete was actually mixed on the spot.” said James Williams
The dragons’ teeth were boxed on site with concrete used to fill the boxes, which were then dismantled to create more of the huge concrete blocks.
And according to Daniel Jones, he recalls as a child helping his father, the late Tom Iorwerth Jones, to remove some of the larch poles and barbed wire from the beach soon after the end of the war.
“The larch poles and barbed wire also formed part of the dragons’ teeth defences to ensure that no one slipped through the gaps between each block.” said Mr Jones. Another local person, Jackie Owen, believes the now emerging pill box was last seen in the early 1950s.
