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The Type 24 Pillbox is a small fortification built during the early years of the Second World War. (Nearly all British pillboxes of that war were built in 1940)
The Type 24 is a design used throughout Britain during the War. It was designed to have a garrison of seven consisting of five light machine guns and two riflemen. Following the Dunkirk evacuation, weapons and ammunition were in such short supply that if Hitler had invaded Britain, it is questionable as to whether pillboxes would have been occupied by sufficient soldiers or Home Guards, to have been effective.
Pillboxes in the Transforming the Trent Valley landscape were part of Stop Line Number 5, a network of these defensive emplacements that used the rivers Trent, Tame and Dove to provide a natural barrier to invading forces. Pillboxes were built at strategic points along the rivers, particularly overlooking bridges and shallows where Nazi forces could have crossed the rivers.
Stop Line No.5 pillboxes are constructed from reinforced concrete. A metal cage of reinforcing steel would have been built and then surrounded with a wooden mould, or formwork. Concrete was mixed and poured over several days as the pillbox grew.
Reinforcing metal mesh was incorporated into the walls near the outside of the pillbox, where it gave the most added protection against bullets.
The windows (properly termed “loopholes”) are flared, allowing a machine gunner inside to have a wide field of fire, while having the greatest possible protection against incoming fire.
Inside the pillbox, a Y-shaped blast-wall protected defending soldiers should bullets or grenades penetrate the pillbox from the other side of the building.
Many pillboxes remain in very good condition. Their strong construction has left them able to withstand the ravages of time and weather very well. On many pillboxes, if you look closely, particularly in the pillbox’s interior, the marks left by the wooden planks from the formwork mould, are still visible. Often the woodgrain from the planks is moulded into the concrete.
We know a great deal about pillboxes in the Second World War but there is also a great deal we do not yet know about these little fortresses. Transforming the Trent Valley is researching questions such as, who were the pillbox builders? How was the location of pillboxes decided and by whom? Were they ever garrisoned?
If you have any information about the pillboxes of the Transforming the Trent Valley scheme area, memories, old photographs, family stories or information that can help answer some of the questions outlined above, then we would love to hear from you. Please contact Dr Mark Knight, Cultural Heritage Officer for Transforming the Trent Valley by emailing m.knight@staffs-wildlife.org.uk.
A Type 24 Pillbox next to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal near Hopwas. Photo © 2022 Transforming the Trent Valley (Steven Cheshire).
The Transforming the Trent Valley team has been setting about helping to conserve these mini fortresses in the landscape by considering a series of sustainable conversions to repurpose the structures and give them a new relevance in the 21st century. We have been adding interpretation to some of the pillboxes in public areas to help visitors better understand their history and relevance. We have also been working with landowners to convert pillboxes for bats and birds.
In March 2022, working in partnership with Hanson UK at Barton Quarry, we converted a series of 5 pillboxes along the River Trent for bats and swallows.
Interventions included adding shelves for nests, hanging hessian for bats to cling to, narrowing loop holes and adding sturdy lockable doors. We plan to understand which initiatives work best with the intention of establishing a best practice guide to convert other pillboxes for nature. In the meantime, you can find out more about our conversions and how they were undertaken by exploring our simple guides.
Our pillbox conversion guide can be found here. Our 2-page Project Spotlight leaflet about the conversions can be found here.
We set up some trail cameras in the pillboxes to see what animals came to call. Watch the video below of a bat flying around inside a converted pillbox.
Our wildlife cameras have captured this ghostly footage of a bat flying around. We believe the bat is roosting in the pillbox and flying to warm up before embarking on a night of hunting insects. Please ignore the timestamp on the video, the cameras had reset to default!
Click on a map marker for more information about each pillbox.
Situated next to the Tucklesholme Nature Reserve, this type 24 pillbox is on land earmarked for a road development.
The pillbox is situated near the Bailey bridge at Walton-on-Trent and along with it’s sister emplacement upstream, would have granted a good field of fire to engage enemy forces attempting to cross the bridge.
The land around the pillbox is unrecognisable from its 1940 state. Paleochannels and old maps indicate a wetland along the river bank in 1940, increasing the strategic value of the bridge crossing.
The bridge itself is a 1970s replacement of a bailey bridge that spanned the river during the War.
Inside the pillbox, the Y-shaped internal blast wall shows signs of attempts to knock it down, probably as an attempt to make it of agricultural use. If so, they gave up, probably because of the strength of the reinforced concrete.
Whitewashed. No public Access.
This pillbox that has apparently been eroded beneath and subsequently buried by river deposition. Approximate location.
The example represents the best of the local variant pillboxes identified as part of Transforming the Trent Valley’s work.
These small, pitch roofed pillboxes are somewhat of an enigma, there being no reference to them in any of the literature reviewed so far.
This pillbox guarded a local railway junction, there are other examples locally in poorer condition.
The building has some interesting features: The rearmost wall is bowed, probably caused by formwork bowing during construction, prior to concrete being poured. On the north east corner of the roof is what appears to be the remains of a dummy chimney. Probably an effort to camouflage the building as a house or other dwelling. The pillbox itself shows remnants of bitumen or similar with which the exterior is painted.
Easily accessible to the public, situated at it is at the National Memorial Arboretum, surrounded by memorials to many to the victims of the same conflict that caused the pillbox to be built.
This pillbox has been converted into a bat roost.
No public Access.
It’s the summer of 1940. The Battle of Britain rages in the English sky.
A Home Guard volunteer in his new uniform stands by a pillbox. He watches as Hurricanes shoot-down a lone German bomber. He knows he will have to report the crashed aeroplane.
The few sandbags piled in front of the pillbox serve no purpose at all. There is a shortage of them right now, as there is of everything. He should be one of seven men with five machine guns defending a pillbox like this. He is alone, he has a First World War rifle and only four bullets.
Behind him, the harvest is being gathered in. A steam engine powers a threshing machine, separating corn from straw. The farmer and his family have the help of two Land Girls who have volunteered to help feed Britain by working on farms.
Across the river, a train heads northwards. Its carriages are filled with men heading to camps and training areas. Most don’t know where they’re going; the names on their tickets mean little to them.
Use the slider to see how the pillbox at the National Memorial Arboretum looks today compared to the scene back in 1940.
Many thanks to Peter Lorimer of Pighill Heritage Graphics for creating the 3d model and visualisations.
Type 24 Pillbox by Transforming The Trent Valley on Sketchfab
Reconstruction of the Type 24 Pillbox at the National Memorial Arboretum near Alrewas, Staffordshire as it might have looked in 1943/44 after the threat of invasion has lifted. No supplementary defences are in place (sandbags, trenches etc). If an exposed pillbox like this were assaulted, the occupants would have no opportunity for an escape. © 2022. Many thanks to Peter Lorimer of Pighill Heritage Graphics.
Reconstruction of the Type 24 Pillbox at the National Memorial Arboretum near Alrewas, Staffordshire as it might have looked in 1940. © 2022. Many thanks to Peter Lorimer of Pighill Heritage Graphics.
07/01/2021 Photo © 2024 Steven Cheshire
Type 24 Pillboxes in the Transforming the Trent Valley scheme area.
A Type 24 Pillbox at Staffordshire Wildlife Trust's Tucklesholme Nature Reserve near Walton-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Photo © 2022 Transforming the Trent Valley (Steven Cheshire).
A Type 24 Pillbox at Woodhouse Farm on the River Tame near Elford. Photo © 2022 Transforming the Trent Valley (Steven Cheshire).
A Type 24 Pillbox at the National Memorial Arboretumon the River Tame near Alrewas. Photo © 2022 Transforming the Trent Valley (Steven Cheshire).
A view looking into the interior of a Type 24 Pillbox at the National Memorial Arboretumon the River Tame near Alrewas. Photo © 2022 Transforming the Trent Valley (Steven Cheshire).
One of the loopholes on the Type 24 Pillbox at the National Memorial Arboretum on the River Tame near Alrewas. Photo © 2022 Transforming the Trent Valley (Steven Cheshire)
A Type 24 Pillbox converted into a bat roost at the the confluence of the River Dove and River Churnett near Combridge. Photo © 2022 Transforming the Trent Valley (Steven Cheshire).
A Type 24 Pillbox on the River Dove west of Marston Lane near Marston-on-Dove. Photo © 2022 Transforming the Trent Valley (Steven Cheshire).
A Type 24 Pillbox, overgrown and partially hidden from view near the River Trent at Branston Leas. Photo © 2022 Clive Ward Transforming the Trent Valley Volunteer.
They’re not in the books. We can’t find anything about them on the internet. No-one who should know, appears to know. It’s over eighty years old, weighs tons and is bullet proof!
When I first saw one of these ‘unknown’ pillboxes I was surprised. In 1940 as Britain faced the threat of invasion, about 28,000 pillboxes were built across the country. To achieve such a monumental feat, pillboxes were designed to standard patterns or “Types” that made them quick to build and strong against enemy attack.
The most common pillbox is the Type 24. These are the backbone of Stop Line Number 5. Then I met the slopey pillbox. The first one I saw was in a private garden. It had a roof like a wedge of cheese. Then I saw one in Marston-on-Dove, a few yards from the road bridge. I found more of these strange pillboxes.
So why does a stretch of the Dove Valley in Staffordshire and Derbyshire have this unique type of pillbox? They are often situated by railway bridges or by roads near railways. Is there a connection between these small rectangular pillboxes and the wartime railway network? Were some strategically placed at weak locations that were under defended when the first batch of pillboxes were built? Were these smaller pillboxes an attempt to fix this and plug the gaps in the stop line?
And why the sloping roof? Mono-pitched roofs like this are a good way to build a shed roof. Were these pillboxes designed to look like a shed? I have found one which bears the stump of a dummy chimney on its roof. That was certainly an attempt at camouflage and subterfuge but was it the reason for the design or an opportunistic/artistic addition by the builders?
Rod Whiteman, Cultural Heritage Officer, Transforming the Trent Valley
Other forms of Pillboxes found in the Transforming the Trent Valley scheme area.
These ‘local variants’ appear to be undocumented (at least online) so more research is required. It is possible that these variants may be related to the defence of strategic locations such as road/railway and road/river crossings. It is unclear if these variants were part of the original Stop Line No 5 or if they represent later additions to the network, perhaps to plug gaps in the original stop line? The construction of these variants also show subtle differences to the type 24s of Stop Line No 5.
A Pillbox on the River Dove east of Marston Lane on the Old River Dove SSSI near Marston-on-Dove. Photo © 2022 Transforming the Trent Valley (Steven Cheshire).
