Blackhall pillboxes County Durham

[jonney]

This was one of them frustrating days where the DoB was proved to be wrong on quite a few occasions, to the point where I said sod it and gave up. I can now confirm that pillboxes S0016470, S0016472, and S0016468 don't exist and probably never did, and that pillboxes S0016469 and S0016542 are in fact raised manhole's for the main sewer system that runs through the area. I did have some luck however and managed to find a couple of pillboxes, well 1 complete and the remains of 2 others. The problem in this area is that the cliffs are eroding at such a fast rate that any remains are being lost to landslides. Right I'll start with the remains of the two first

Pillbox S006661 back in 1997 this was in good condition but time has not been kind at all

All that remains

now the next one is pillbox S006663 the DoB has this to say about it

15/09/1940 Defence structure termed a 'beehive'. P.695. Cassini ref. 947596. 09/1997 Pillbox, no specification. All that remains are the bottom courses of cemented sandbags laid out in a circular fashion, with pieces of likely roofing that have collapsed into the structure. Left on the bits of roof can be seen the impression of corrugated iron sheeting that was seen in similar structures in the area. The thickness of these roof bits is 0.3m. The diameter of the structure measured N - S is 3.9m and 4m in the E - W direction, giving the structure a slightly oval shape. The structure has been steadily overgrown with vegetation.

nothing has changed really although I'm not 100% that it is a sandbag pillbox as there were no signs of sandbags on the outside edge, I think it could have been a LAA although that wouldn't explain the concrete in the middle of the structure anyway decide for yourselves any opinions would be welcome

The defense area...according to a marker post on the footpath this was know as "Dead Mans Beach" as there were so many body's washed up on the beach from shipwrecks during the war that they set up temporary morgue at the bottom of this valley

Anti Tank Blocks S006666

Saved the best till last. Pillbox S006670 the DoB has this one down as a type25 variant but it is a vickers variant and bloody hard to find as well

The only Embrasure a bit unusual but all will be revealed

The doorway... oh no not again, this is becoming a habbit

Internals, now this is where the strange embrasure makes sense. A standard table for a heavy machine gun

And a Turnbull mount

If you look closely at the next photo you can see where the embrasure has been altered (note the 2 squares either side of the mount) sometime after 1941 to take the Turnbull mount effectively doing away with the need for the table. This was probably because the pillbox was originally built to take a Vickers machine gun then altered to take the more readily available Bren gun. The line under the embrasure would have been for the rail that carried the original metal shutters for the embrasure before it was converted

Camo fasteners were still intact as well

The fire trenches S0006654 are still there as well but are little more than overgrown holes in the ground which didn't photograph too well and you couldn't tell what they were so I wont post the pics. Well thats all from me for this report, short but sweet for a change lol.

Thanks for looking

Cheers Jon

 

[RichCooper]

Good start to the weekend mate nice to see one of us is out and about and dont you just love those doorways really.Agree with you there on the sandbags something just doesnt say pillbox

 

[Munchh]

The Vickers 'variant' is a nice discovery jonney. Think you're probably right about the Turnbull mount being for a Bren even though they had a gun bar for the Vickers. I remember reading somewhere that Southern Command carried out trials on these mounts with the various weapons considered for use. The only conclusion from the trials regarding the Vickers was that it was not reccommended for 'firing on fixed lines' when mounted in the Turnbull. This also applied to the Browning. My point being that this suggests the use of the Bren with these mounts may have been as much about suitability as availability.

The mystery sandbag site doesn't look like a pillbox to me. Could the lump of 'corrugated' concrete in the middle have come from elsewhere? I'm thinking open emplacement of some sort? I'm not that up on coastal defence though so probably not a lot of help.

Very good report mate, plenty of food for thought. Thanks.

 

[jonney]

The Vickers 'variant' is a nice discovery jonney. Think you're probably right about the Turnbull mount being for a Bren even though they had a gun bar for the Vickers. I remember reading somewhere that Southern Command carried out trials on these mounts with the various weapons considered for use. The only conclusion from the trials regarding the Vickers was that it was not reccommended for 'firing on fixed lines' when mounted in the Turnbull. This also applied to the Browning. My point being that this suggests the use of the Bren with these mounts may have been as much about suitability as availability.

The mystery sandbag site doesn't look like a pillbox to me. Could the lump of 'corrugated' concrete in the middle have come from elsewhere? I'm thinking open emplacement of some sort? I'm not that up on coastal defence though so probably not a lot of help.

Very good report mate, plenty of food for thought. Thanks.

Cheers for that Munchh, it is possible that the corrugated concrete could have come from pillbox S0016468 as the DoB has the placemark next to it although down the hill in amongst the vegetation in this photo

I did search the area but couldn't find any traces of it. I suppose if you have been told to demolish the pillboxes the easiest way would have been to fill this emplacement with the rubble from one close by. This area was the site of Horden Colliery with Blackhall and Easington collieries all within a few miles so a LAA emplacement would have made sense to defend these from air attack especially with them being right on the coast

 

[Parkus.]

Funny, me and a few friends were sat on the 'beehive' structure only a few weeks ago wondering what other defences are around there. Blackhall Colliery was literally a stone throw away from there.