Is This England's Biggest Pillbox?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ธ.ค. 2019
- In this short vlog Liam heads out with youtuber Will (SuperPopBro) what has been called the 'monster' pillbox. It is located in the flat expanse of farmland east of Burnham-on-Crouch and Southminster on the very isolated yet peaceful Dengie Peninsula along the Essex coast. Back in 1940, this blockhouse would have been armed to the teeth with a 6 Bren light machine guns, a rifle, 4 Vickers medium machine guns, and a light anti-aircraft Lewis gun. Whilst the hypothetical effectiveness of the Home Guard against a German invasion has been questioned, there can be no doubt that this stronghold would have done a great deal to keep the Dengie marshes locked down until reinforcements arrived.
Give Will's excellent video from this explore a watch too:
• The cleanest Pillbox I...
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Good find and i agree on the condition being very clean. This must be in the middle of nowhere.
Not really sure how it’s done so well - maybe it was cleared at one point?
Yes definitely the largest one I have seen bigger than the 5 pillboxes home guard location were l live west Sussex 👍
Great vid, interesting structure kept in such good nick
Great vids you guys make keep it up much appreciated👍
Thank you!
Hi guys.i remember seeing a large 2 storey pill box between Upminister and barking on the c2c line when I was a kid.
It’s not there now.
Also remember a underground pillbox over Benfleet downs and one on canvey in some ones back garden.
Keep up the good work
Jay
Hi Jay, not heard about that cheers for the memory. Any ideas where those two pillboxes might be - any more on Canvey would be a gem to find?
Thanks!
Beyond the Point
the underground one is just past the old rail crossing by Benfleet station.i used to always look at it when I went passed on the train when worked in Southend in 1988.when the weathers better il go and find it.then il contact you with the proper location.(it’s been 32 years since I’ve seen it.
The other pill box is down larup ave in a garden.you used to be able to see it from the road,but the house has an extension now.
We used to play on it in the early 80’s.
It was covered in mud as a rockery,but you could see the outline of it.
Hope this helps
Jay
Great info much appreciated cheers, we’ll check them out. Do you reckon the Canvey one is still there then? Liam
Beyond the Point
yes I believe so.
I only know of that one on canvey apart from the brick built one.i think that’s it
Great video
Nice one! Gonna have to go take a look at this one!
It’s surprisingly neat for what it is, really good condition. We still haven’t checked out the Burnham mine tower!
@@BeyondthePointyou won’t be disappointed mate, apart from all the bird shit in there! Wear masks and gloves cos of the toxins in the shit. Amazing structure though.if it wasn’t full of bird poo, I would camp in it.
Does sound good. Yeah we’ve heard that’s a bit of a must, sounds pretty grim but not unexpected at this stage 😂
wow just amazing 👍
Fantastic video great viewing 👍
Cheers!
Was there ever a follow up to the vid with Wilko?
No it actually in Dorset it's called fort Henry I been there before it's really cool it was built in ww2 to stop Hitler from invading you know churchill Eisenhower and the queen Elizabeth the second dad was there
Very interesting didn't know about this, that's huge!
Your welcome did you Google it
Jimmy hill
What’s these inside jokes you keep making 👀
Did you watch yuletide this year?
We didn’t no!
germans would of just avoid it surely did u plant them coins or wot
We didn’t plant the coins believe it or not, crazy stuff. Perhaps the Germans would’ve avoided this or similar big defences, but between all pillboxes there would’ve been other barriers back in the day, so it wouldn’t have been on its own
Sorry, but I don´t agree with you: it´s only a pillbox. What kind of resistance should it have fought? It is not a fort or something similar.
I don´t know the exact location because I didn´t found it on Google Maps. But during the filming for me it looks like that it not a very strategic locatation.
Well, in my opinion the Germans had - in case of an invasion - bypassed it.
But in a case of an attack on the pillbox german pioneer troops would have used their experience from their attacks on Fort Eben Emael in Belgium and on the french Maginot line.
I see what you mean - I’m not saying it would’ve had an overall impact in the defence of Britain, but for the role of a pillbox - as part of a stop line to slow enemy movements, it’s certainly more likely to have held the line than most. Whilst it’s not in a particularly strategic location I think it would’ve kept those marshes locked down from paratroopers at least temporarily - it has a vast view across the flat fields for miles so it could’ve been ‘strategic’ in the sense of it defending a large area prime for enemy landings. I doubt that any pillbox would have entirely halted a German advance as you rightly say, but this isn’t what pillboxes were used for and hopefully I didn’t give that impression in the video. I’m just saying it would’ve been a formidable obstacle, but inevitably it would’ve been overrun and who knows what would have happened to the occupants if they didn’t retreat in time!
You can look at any pillbox and say I don't see the point. The mere fact it had Anti Aircraft capability says it was statigically placed . The biggest over look here is the fact many pillboxes weren't hidden (some where) as the threat of invasion was VERY real they also doubled as a visual deterrent for spy planes! That said most home guard said if the invasion came the last place they would actually go into or feel safe was a pill box 😂.
There's a few double pillboxes dotted around, the open space of the AA implacement makes it seem a lot bigger.
@Beyond the Point where is it? I live in southminster and wanna check it out