Aldershot Command - Hog Hatch to Folly Hill

[Skoyen89]

Visited some of the ground covered by Sennelager in a recent post, but will only include those that are additional to his post. This area is great because it has pill-boxes in abundance but it is also challenging as it is private woodland - however I met some great people who were happy to show me their 'pillboxes' and in return I could explain what they were and why they were there.

Roadblock at the entrance to Ewshot Hall:


Ewshot House 598 by skoyen89, on Flickr

Remains of another roadblock:

Kildara Cylinders 766 by skoyen89, on Flickr

Vickers Box deep in the woods:

The Brake Vickers Box 759 by skoyen89, on Flickr


The Brake Vickers Box 756 by skoyen89, on Flickr


The Brake Vickers Box 763 by skoyen89, on Flickr

Sennelager found two Type 24s but this was nearby as well:

Foxhaven Type 24 #2 741 by skoyen89, on Flickr

Sennelager covered this but although he was right about it being a Vickers box and not a Type 28 (there doesn't seem to be any Type 28s near here in this stretch of the GHQ Line and any in the DOB listed as such are probably Vickers Boxes) it was one of an identical pair - the other was removed by the owners at the time. It was identical and set at a slight angle.


Upper Old Park Vickers Box 626 by skoyen89, on Flickr

Another Type 24 deep in the woods nearby. This seemed to have breeze blocks around the edge making it look like a castle but I think these were a later addition. Note the numbers either side of the embrasures and original shelving (?) :

Upper Old Park Type 24 #2 641 by skoyen89, on Flickr


Upper Old Park Type 24 #2 644 by skoyen89, on Flickr

Roadblock in the track at Upper Old Park with what looks like the remains of a bent rail and also some mine sockets sockets:

Upper Old Park Roadblock 668 by skoyen89, on Flickr

T shaped section of rail has been cut off - could be a bent rail?

Upper Old Park Roadblock 661 by skoyen89, on Flickr

The owner thought he had two pillboxes together but on caeful inspection the second was awater tank although I was taken in for ten minutes.

Upper Old Park Type 24 649 by skoyen89, on Flickr

This is in the DOB as removed but it is there although well hidden at the junction of a bridleway and the unpaved road:

Old Park Lane Type 24 669 by skoyen89, on Flickr


Old Park Lane Type 24 672 by skoyen89, on Flickr

Finally a line of four pillboxes backing on to Folly Hill and firing art the anti-tank ditch which went diagonally across the field in front. On the DOB there seems to be duplicate reports with some shown as removed (wrong). The most northern is a Type 24:


Folly Hill Type 24 676 by skoyen89, on Flickr

Then two fairly identical Vickers Boxes - but these have very small rifle/bren style embrasures (over a vickers table) that are nine inches wide at their narrowest point. The effect is a very narrow field of fire and a large box with small embrasures:

Folly Hill Vickers Box #1 704 by skoyen89, on Flickr


Folly Hill Vickers Box #1 701 by skoyen89, on Flickr


Folly Hill Vickers Box #1 695 by skoyen89, on Flickr


Folly Hill Vickers Box #1 692 by skoyen89, on Flickr

The next box is almost identical and fires in a parallel direction:


Folly Hill Vickers Box #2 722 by skoyen89, on Flickr

The small main embrasure:


Folly Hill Vickers Box #2 711 by skoyen89, on Flickr


Folly Hill Vickers Box #2 720 by skoyen89, on Flickr

Small rear embrasure and fume exit:

Folly Hill Vickers Box #2 721 by skoyen89, on Flickr

Bothe the vickers boxes have an inch or two of water in them but are otherwise sound.

And finally another Type 24 (I think) which is in the middle of a thorn-thicket and despite attempts from two directions this is the nearerst I could get to it:

Folly Hill Type 24 #2 725 by skoyen89, on Flickr

And on to Farnham where I link up with earlier jaunts which are posted in my Flickr stream.

 

[night crawler]

:notworthy: And so end the master class great report and some brilliant research to get the pillboxes. Now I thnk a beer is in Order.

 

[Skoyen89]

Folly Hill

:..... Now I thnk a beer is in Order.

I managed a quick pint after this - there is a pub just up Folly Hill and I'd run out of water (poor excuse I know!). Although it didn't seem particularly sunny it was apparently the hottest day of the year.

 

[freespirits]

loving these reports guys ,,,cracking research and pics cheers ,,,if you look in the defence of britian group i have posted a pillbox found in dorset ,,east stoke which doesnt seem to be on the d.o.b

 

[leftorium]

interesting embrasure detail in Folly Hill Vickers Box #1 692 - is it a mount?

 

[sennelager66]

Lovely finds there Skoyen. Nice day for it too.

 

[Ace247]

Nice pics & great info...

 

[RichCooper]

Great job you guys are doing down there

 

[flyboys90]

That looked a great trip,thanks for sharing.

 

[explorer101]

Could you explain a bit more about pillboxes? for those of use who aren't that knowledgeable and thinks wikipedia is a bit poo sometimes

Great report though!

Thanks

L x

 

[leftorium]

Could you explain a bit more about pillboxes? for those of use who aren't that knowledgeable and thinks wikipedia is a bit poo sometimes

L x

on this subject wikipedia isn't actually that bad, a lot of the content has been contributed by the defence of britain project, which was undertaken by the council for British Archeology and supplemented by some very knowledgeable people over at the pill box study group, which is another rich vein of info - some of the content may have been contributed by people on here - I'll protect their anonymity.

There are hundreds of publications on the subject so to go into too much broad detail here would be challenging

to get an idea of what we are talking about when we say type 22 / 24 etc the major types are listed here

It is important to remember that each cluster or line of defences has it's own idiosyncrasies, based on the blend of defence structures; the landscape they occupy and when and by whom they were constructed and garrisoned. It's in trying to interpret the interaction between the things you see on the ground that I get most pleasure.

Feel free to ask questions - you will get a civil response - often one or two depending on opinion - a lot of the joy of the subject is the detective work surrounding determining the actual intended purpose of the structures and there is usually a degree of healthy debate on this ....

finally a warning ... this stuff is addictive - if you get into the subject, I'm afraid you will often come back from short trips, several hours late, covered in bramble scratches and nettle stings having caught a glimpse of what you think is an undiscovered remnant of the past, but often turns out to be a leftover from sewer works - you get a hunger for concrete that is difficult to feed - expect to lose what little spare time you have

 

[WinchItIn]

Very very nice Skoyen89, good bit of leg work there.